The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1905-01-05
THE SENSE OF SMELL.
1T is LESS ACUTE IN HUMANS NOW
THAN 1T USED TO BE.

What We Now Possess Is Probably
the E"Mere Remnant of ID Once Pow
erful Mechanism"-The Keen Power
of Scent In the Brute Creation.
Is the sense of smell dying out among
civilized men? Psychologists tell us
that, although an entire segment of
the brain-namely, the olfactory lobe
is apportioned to the olfactory fbers,
what we now possess is probably 1.-THE
mere remnant of once powerful
mechanism In the brute creation
the sense is much keener, although
among the lower aquatic animals it is
indiscriminately blended with that of
taste and in the toothed whales is non
existent. On the other hand, dogs,
especially those that have been train
ed to hunt by scent, seem to depend
upon that faculty almost entirely, even
to the exclusion of their eyeSight. Ii
it is a bad seeming day or if his
nose is out of order you may see re-
triever literally walk over a dead bird
or even lie down on the top of it,
pretty clear proof that he is not look
ing for his quarry. He is smelling for
it. A fox in covert will sometimes
run in and out among the very legs
of the pack unnoticed, although in this
case the necessity for keeping their
heads down, owing to the fact that
animal smells are heavy and lie close
to the ground, will serve to prevent
hounds from using their eyes. A ter
rier will race down a drive, barking
ecStatically at the sight of his master,
but even then he will usually give him
a preliminary sniff before he is absO-
lutely satisfied of his identity.
Generally speaking, sweet odors are
more persistent than their opposite, the
sulphureted compounds in particular
evaporating rapidly on exposure to the
atmosphere, although the smell of de-
caying animal matter is said to endure
for days after the cause of 1t has been
removed. The olfactory sense, how
ever. usually becomes blunted in time
when assailed continuously by any one
odor. Workmen in big perfumeries be-
come case hardened to the fragrance Of
their surroundings, and nose pain is
fortunately even more deadening In its
effects than most forms of physical
suffering. Again, different smells do
not mix. It is said that If two nostrils
are stuffed with different substances
we smell first one and then the other
alternately, but never a blending of the
two together. This is probably the
case with the lower animals, too, and
explains how foXhounds can pick out
and follow the trail of a fox over
ground that has been tainted by sheep
or cattle The writer personally has
seen a pointer find birds successfully
all one afternoon on the western prai-
ries at a time the dog himself was SO
odoriferous owing to an unfortunate
encounter with a skunk on the preyi-
Gus day that he was hardly approach
able
Among human individuals the sense
of smell, like those of sight and hear
ing, varies considerably, and certain
persons seem to be quite unaffected by
certain odorS, just as others are color
blind" to certain colors or tone deaf"
to the shrill call of bat or the chirp-
ing of a cricket. Perhaps it is indica-
tive of the manner in which we are
disseminating the use of our noses that
there is no one word in the English
language (such as blindness" or deaf
neSS'O signifying the complete absence
of the perception of smell, although the
condition undoubtedly exists and is in
deed not uncommon as a sequela of
some diseases.
1t is true that we may claim a SUI
periority to the brute creation in the
range of our susceptibility to various
Odors, for the carnivora seem to be
quite insensible to the scent of plants
and flowers, while the herbivora pay
little attention to animal odorS except
for the purpose of detecting the APP
tainly inferior to them in acuteness, at
all events we of the civilized races, al
though there seems to be no reason
why this sense should not be cultivat-
ed and it's efficiency REINFORCED by dc,
liberate training. This view is sup
ported by the fact that men born deaf
and dumb and blind have been known
to develop their latent powers of smell
to pitch Of perfection quite unintel-
ligible to ordinary mortals. We use
spectacles to assist the eyesight, ear
trumpets and artificial ear drums to
correct deafness; why should not
science supply us with some handy in
strument that would stimulate the OIL
factory fibers or magnify the potency
of efHuyia? There are many ways in
which such an addition to our physical
land mentaD equipment might be use
full, for the nose has the one cardinal
advantage over the eyes in that it is
quite independent of light. After all,
even the range Of vision may be outdis-
tanced by that of smell, if it be true,
for instance, that the Spice islands of
the Indian archipelago are to be distin-
guished far out at sea long before they
have been sighted from the lookout.