Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-17
..SMELLODRAMA.'
A Scale of Odors Corresponding to
Notes of the Piano.
-.n, the BOSTON Transcrlpt.

!
The Technology of one art is often
used TO express the characteristics OF an
other. Writers on music speak of shades
and coors. Painters are said TO employ
tones. There is q psychological. perhaps
physical basis for such metonomies. The
blind man yisualiZed red by the blast OF
Il trumpet. In the current number of the
Forum Mr.. Sadakichi Hartmann details
some interesting experiments which he
has been making on the effect OF per-
fumes on the human organization. He
tells of his attempt to raise perfumery
To IAN art of some pretension. He Des
gins by telling OF DIR. Septimus Piesse 5
''octonhone'-..a scale in which forty
SIN different odors are arranged in such
4 way that each of them corresponds
with note or the piano" He says that
Il: i valuable guide on quasi-sci-
enriic basis for the manufacturers OF
p":fumery. for it is only necessary to
str tie q chord on piano and to know
what odors the respective notes of the
chord represent TO arrive at the sugges-
ton foT some new bouquet Cnfortu-
nately the mucous membrane has not as
vet been sufficiently educated TO distin-
gush more than one smell at a time.
Hut Mr.. hartmann arranged an appa-
raruS consisting of aIomizerS with air
pressure attachment carrying the spray
10 q distance of nine or ten feet; also
As his object was not sacriiicial and he
did rot want TO arouse his little group OF
o!factory hands tthe word audience can
hardly he used here, to sense OF grief
OF penitence. ne did not use the smell OF
burning flesh or Of incenSe-'SenSations
characteristic OF every ancient sacrifice" -:
but rather agreeable smells, essential
oils and tinCtU 'es known to the art or
perfumerv. and also a few balsams.
chemical bodies like coumarin. natural
,v,I 1T f,<1nW
erous fiuids. as. for instance. a varnish
with the odor of bananas
Odors have a peculiar reminiscent ef-
feet The odor of the paste in a book
will bring back the sensations of early
childhood. when the new geography or
spelier gave out an enanation which In
no wise helped one to remember the
boundaries of one of the middle states or
the catch in separate or believe
Mr.. Hartmann says: THE odor OF berga-
mot suggests the orange or lemon groves
OF some southern state or the Mediterra-
near sea and far better than lemon,
which Is a rather common perfume and
apt to remind one more readily or It's
various utilities. Turpentinelike smells
will recall in most persons the healthy
atmospheres of q pine forest as incense
does a church. The delicate aroma OF
magnolia blossoms will take US to the
magnolia swamps on the Mississippi river.
Rosemary conjures up in every mind &C
quaintance with New England scenery.
an old homestead with its flower beds
before the front porch
II is notorious that civilization has
tended to atrophy the sensibilities OF the
olfactory nerves just as II has quenched
the keenness of mans vision. but the
nerves are capable of education, as Is
proved by tea tasters and wine smellers
and Mr.. Hartmann experiments point
TO a vast educational and esthetic widen
ing of human sensations. The tirle may
come when the movies will be provided
with Notwithstanding apparatus, an6
Sunday schools will bring the Holy Land
as il were, into the consciousness Of
their pupils by the medium of the nos
tr!ls. Music especially will benefit from
the innovation an an opera without q
perfume-laden breeze will be incomplete
A new word will have to be invented FOX
this marriage of arts. One is at hand; Il
will be the smeilodrama of the future.