Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-05-07
THE oDoR OF sANcITY.
A French Writer'S Theory of How 1t
May Be Exuded by Man.


DIR. Georges Dumas is the author of
an article in the Revue de Paris on
'sThe Odor of Sanctity." The writer
accepts as true the numerous reported
instances of saints and mystics of the
Catholic church whose bodies after
death or during moments of ecstasy
emitted peculiarly pleasing odors of
various kinds. Then men and women
with whom such legends deal, argues
DR.. Dumas, were neurasthenes, and it
is not impossible that the aroma of
sanctity which surrounded them was
the product of strictly physiological
and chemical changes common to all
men, but present in highly intensified
form In subjects who, so to speak,
burned up the candle of their existence
at an unusually rapid rate. He says in
part:
$50 far, then, we have come across a
great variety of perfumes-cinnamon,
Glove, orange, pineapple, rose, violet.
lily of the valley, yellow amber and
benzoin Now, the natural constitu-
ton of all of these is well known. and
chemistry produces them daily for COM
mercial purposes. We may therefore
substitute the equivalent chemical ex-
pressions for the ordinary terms we
have employed and say that orange,
cinnamon, violet and musk owe their
perfume to aldehydes and acetones,
aromatic liquids derived from the alco-
hols, Just as the artificial essence of
pineapple comes from butyric ether.
We have, then, to ask whether the hui
man body can produce odorous COM
pounds of the kind we have mentioned
and under what conditions AS mat
fer of fact, it does produce certain
number of such compounds in the de-
struction of organic matteA which is
the constant condition eff life, In par
ticular aeetones and the volatile fatty
acids. butyric, formic, acetic, etc. If
the process of combustion is normal all
these constituents are burned up. COM
pletely oxidized. and give as a residue
water. carbonic acid and urea. But let
some slackening occur in the inmost
nutrition of the tissues and the same
constituents will escape through the
breath, perspiration and the skim
In portions of Japan a regular bust
ness is made of growing mushrooms,
and the method followed is not unin-
teresting Oak trees six inches in di-
ameter are feiled and cut in lengths of
six feet and the bark SCARED in nu-
merous places with heavy knives Aft
er lying on the ground three years the
logs are stacked in rows in shady
place In short time the fungous
growth appears and at the proper time
is cut and marketed. Following this
the piles of logs are again scattered
and the bark pounded with heavy
mallet This treatment seems to SUI
perinduce the growth of second crop,
which is aided by the logs being piled
up in the manner above described.
An enterprising woman living in the
state of Washington has the past sea-
son raised nearly 1000 turkeys on her
! forty acre farm. Her energies have
been devoted to this occupation almost
exclusively, in which she has had the
assistance of her three sons. If she
has succeeded In selling all of her
| flock for the price she received for the
first sold. $3.43 apiece, she has cleaned
up about $1,000 from the years opera
lions The mild and dry climate of the
Pacific slope seems to be especially
adapted to bringing the little turkeys
through the critical first six weeks Of
their life. In Matching this large num-
Der of birds she uses both incubators
and hens. This. woman will have on
deposit in the bank when her birds are
all marketed more than Is realized
from the average half section farm
What she has done ought to be within
the reach of others, even If on some
what smaller scale.