The Washington times., 1917-04-04
POPULAR MEDICINE
BY DR.. HIRSHBERG
intelligent Observations OF Rules
of Hygiene Will De-
crease illness.
By DIR. LEONARD n. HIRsHBERG

BY DR. LEONARD n. HIRsHBERG.
You are at lunch. Oysters are
among your fare. Suddenly, as you
bite into your fifth bivalve, you lose
your appetite, leave the table, and
hasten. to some nearby haven to be
rid Of the offending victuaL
whats the natter" your friend
anxiously inquiries.
"oh, nothing" is your polite and
polite rejoinder.
Eyes thers- is" insists your COM
panion. Something was wrong with
that last oyster"
"well, 1t didn't taste just right"
you admit.
Nevertheless, il was not the taste
for there are really only four COM
monty recognized varieties of taste,
salty, bitter, sour, and sweet-but the
smell that notified you all was not
as IT should be.
True enough. the human sense of
smell is a wofully neglected and de-
Perforated bulwark against threat
ened dangers. Its subordinated place
in the economy of man is due TO the
ages-long, stOred-up, and accumu-
lated knowledge of the race.
Animals lacking most of the men
tai powers OF men have retained
powers that men have permitted to
dull. For instance, past canine
Judgment, memory or experience are
not available to keep a dog safe from
poison gases and other venomous
dangers.
Keen From Use.
The upshot Of animal delinquency
in this reIpect is a more acute de-
velopment of the sense OF smell in
animals as contrasted with your own.
An animal must be able to smell
safety for himself.
The .olefactory structures in many
animals are larger and better evolved
than in the human tribe, because
brute creation is more dependent
upon them, and they are necessarily
exercised more completely.
In the selection of its victuals and
drink, animals sniff and SNUFF before
they touch the food. To distinguish
a harmless and an agreeable sub
stance from a toxic one, they rely
largely upon the nose.
Just as auditory memories, scenic
associations and events in which your
muscles long ago took part all cling
to your Imagination. so smells exert
a favorable or an unfavorabIe influ-
ence upon your enjoyments. The
smell OF good old roast beef to a hun
CRY man is but one evidence that
needs only to be mentioned to be rec
ogniZed.
A Strange Fact.
Odors, of course, are material par
ticles which beat a rat-a-tattoo upon
the sensory membranes of the nostrils.
DR.. r. Forester some time ago sup
posed that dark persons have a keen
er sense OF smell than have their fair
er sisters. This has recently been
verified in an unexpected fashion.
Observations made upon human al
binos as well as among white rabbits
and other albino animals show that
they are certainly more defective in |
their ability to distinguish and recog- |
nize odors than are darker ones.
Black pigs are bred in Virginia and |
other States in preference to fair ones |
in order that they may the better |
escape death from eating poisonous |
plants. which emit notifable odors /
ignored by their lighter brethren.
Similarly, black sheep are bred in
Tarentino because the white ones
poison themselves on a plant called
"hypericum crispum." Aristotle, that
great supermaster of knowledge.
pointed out that albinos and light
types generally are more susceptible
to poisons, disease and other acci-
dents.
tCopy't 1917, by Newspaper Feature service).