Sense of smell

“ The sense of smell is sickened by the insupportable stench of so many putrid and infected bodies. The taste is tormented by a burning thirst and a cruel hunger, while never can be had a drop of water or the least refreshment. ”

“ When sense of smell is being developed, you should not only shut out from the mind every thought but that of odor, but you should also shut out cognizance of every odor save that upon which your mind, for the time, is concentrated.
You call find plenty of opportunity for exercises for developing the sense of smell. When you are out in the air, be on the alert for the different odors. You will find the air laden with all kinds, but let your concentration upon the one selected be such that a scent of its fragrance in after years will vividly recall the circumstances of this exercise. ”

“ What relation is there between the real world and that image of the world shadowed in our soul? In the special case we are concerned with, what is it in these substances which is the cause why they affect our sense of smell? It seems certain, in the first place, that odor in itself, so far as it is odor, is a mere figment of our mind. Contemporaneous physiology proves that excitement of the nerves of sensation is followed, in each one, by the sensation that corresponds with each. ”

“ The Uses of the Sense of Smell.—Smell is the special sense which enables us to appreciate odors. Touch, as we have seen, is largely concerned with solid bodies; and taste, with fluids, or with solids in solution. Smell, on the other hand, is designed to afford us information in reference to substances in a volatile or gaseous form. Invisible and subtile particles emanate from odorous bodies, and are brought by the respired air in contact with the terminal filaments of the olfactory nerve, upon which an agreeable or disagreeable impression is produced. ”

“ To have the sense of smell or any other sense, requires no language. An odor can be perceived by a child as well as by a grown person. To every disease there is an odor, [mental atmosphere] and every one is affected by it when it comes within his consciousness. Every one knows that he can produce in himself heat or cold by excitement. ”

“ For the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, of taste, of smell, of touch—all these are discriminative faculties, their purpose being to separate the beneficial from whatever causeth harm. Now, is it possible that man’s sense of smell, the sense that differentiates odours, should find some odour repugnant, and that odour be beneficial to the human body? ”

“ We may fairly therefore conclude, that the sense of smell, like the sense of taste, was intended by the GREAT CREATOR, in the first place, as a guard, to watch against the admission, into the body, of any external matter which might prove injurious to bodily health; and in the second place, to remind man of those higher and interior faculties of mind from which the sense of bodily smell derives its life and soul, and especially to call to his recollection the DIVINE SOURCE of all his sensations, whether corporeal or mental, whether natural or spiritual. ”

“ The intensity and delicacy of the sense of smell vary in mankind among different individuals, and particularly among different races of men. While some persons are almost devoid of the sense of smell, others, whose history is related in the annals of science, have displayed a refinement and range in the distinction of odors truly wonderful. ”

“ Up to a certain degree, practice may do much, but too much of it dulls the sense of smell. Butchers, tobacconists, perfumers, not only fail to perceive the odors which dominate their shops; their sense of smell has been dulled, anyway. ”

“ Emphatic as a blow. Obviously, we have here a combination of several sense impressions, tactile, visual, olfactory: tactile, for 157the air is damp and chilly; visual, for it is a blank, a negative, and yet a powerful influence; olfactory, smelling ominous and of death. Old dried bones emit precisely the same exhalation. In a subtle way, too, the presence of mould is perceptible, all blending into the horrible and grisly atmosphere of despair; the Valse Triste and the Dance of Death.
Smell can bring as certainly and as irresistibly as music emotions of all sorts to the mind. ”

“ Almost every object in nature has a peculiar smell; every animal, every plant, and almost every mineral. Not only have the different classes of objects different smells, but probably different individuals in the same class. The different smells of different individuals are perceptible, to a certain extent, even by the human organs, and to a much greater extent by those of the 13 dog, and other animals, whose sense of smelling is more acute. ”

“ We have thus come to know that the capacity to perceive an odor is more delicate than our ability to recognize light. Probably it is an inconceivable delicacy of the sense of smell more than anything else which enables animals to find their way in the manner which seems to us so utterly mysterious. ”

“ The sense of smell affords us great enjoyment. The Creator has, for the purpose of gratifying us, scattered sweet-smelling flowers all over the earth. These are all perfume factories, as I told you in Part First, made by him to give us pleasure. He could have made the flowers and fruits in such a way that they would have no smell; but, in his desire to please us and make us happy, he has given to them a great variety of pleasant odors. There are, it is true, some unpleasant smells in the world, but these are not any thing like as common as the pleasant ones ”

“ On account of the rapid fatigue of the sense of smell we are unconscious of the smell of our own breath, but can get fresh smells from within, and these come, practically always, from materials that have just been taken into the mouth. ”

“ Next in order of delicacy, and more closely allied with the physical functions, is the sense of smell. Delicate perfumes, or the fragrance of a flower, impart an exhilarating sensation of delight, while numerous odors excite a feeling of disgust. The organ of smell is far less complicated in its structure than the eye or the ear. It consists of two cavities having cartilaginous walls, and lined with a thick mucous coat, termed the pituitary membrane, over which are reflected the olfactory nerves. ”

“ The sense of smell is high up in the nose. It is a very useful sense and warns us of danger. We can often detect bad air by its odor. We know whether food is good or whether it is spoiled, by its smell. ”

“ The sense of smell 51 also varies according to differences in animals, since even our sense of smell is affected when we have taken cold and the phlegm is too abundant, and also when parts around our head are flooded with too much blood, for we then avoid odors that seem agreeable to others, and feel as if we were injured by them. ”

“ FOR some inexplicable reason the sense of smell does not hold the high position it deserves among its sisters. There is something of the fallen angel about it. When it woos us with woodland scents and beguiles us with the fragrance of lovely gardens, it is admitted frankly to our discourse. But when it gives us warning of something noxious in our vicinity, it is treated as if the demon had got the upper hand of the angel, and is relegated to outer darkness, punished for its faithful service. ”

“ Even the common-sense philosopher, par excellence, says of smell: "It appears to be a simple and original affection or feeling of the mind, altogether inexplicable and unaccountable. It is, indeed, impossible that it can be in any body: it is a sensation, and a sensation can only be in a sentient thing." [5]
That which is true of muskiness is true of every other odor. Lavender-smell, clove-smell, garlic-smell, are, like "muskiness," names of states of consciousness, and have no existence except as such. ”

“ We do not make so much use of the sense of smell as do the savages and many lower animals, and hence we are not able to smell so acutely. Many persons lose the sense of smell altogether, from neglecting colds in the head.
26. How we Taste.—The tongue and the palate have very delicate nerves by means of which we taste. We cannot taste with the whole of the tongue. ”

“ Notwithstanding these testimonials and many others of a similar character, which might be adduced, we believe that in our species, where the sense of smell has so little influence compared to what it has in animals, that odors have but a slight effect in exciting to sexual pleasures. ”

“ There is an inseparable connection between the two senses of smell and taste, for when anosmia or loss of the sense of smell occurs, all taste, except for bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and saltness, is completely lost, so far as ideas of flavour, &c., are concerned. ”

“ The sanitary and mechanical age we are now entering makes up for the mercy it grants to our sense of smell by the ferocity with which it assails our sense of hearing. ”

“ The taste-bulbs are capable of appreciating four sensations only, and these quite simple, while the capacity of the olfactory organ, as we shall see more fully later on, is practically unlimited. All the subtlety of “taste,” all that we call “flavour,” is an olfactory sensation. Thus, people devoid of the sense of smell cannot discern the finer savours. ”

“ The sense of smell is developed in a remarkable degree in certain of the inferior animals, and is especially acute in reference to the peculiar emanations that appear to characterize the different animals. ”

“ The influence of odors is thus deeper than is indicated by their nervous effects; they act directly on nutrition. We are led, as Passy remarks, to regard odors as very intimately related to the physiological properties of organic substances, and the sense of smell as a detached fragment of generally sensibility, reacting to the same stimuli as general sensibility, but highly specialized in view of its protective function. ”

“ Not only is the discrimination of individuals by the sense of smell a very astonishing thing, but so also is the obvious fact that the total amount of odoriferous matter which is sufficient to give a definite and discriminative sensation through the organ of smell is of a minuteness beyond all calculation or conception. ”

“ The appreciation of scents and odours by mankind is not of universal similiarity, but varied and capable of artificial distortion. The sense of smell is generally considered as more highly developed in savage than in civilized races. ”

“ I am able now to recall these sensations, and believe that the sense of smell, which seems to diminish as we grow older, until it becomes something scarcely worthy of being called a sense, is nearly as keen in little children as in the inferior animals, and, when they live with nature, contributes as much to their pleasure as sight or hearing. ”

“ The part of the brain from which the nerves of smell arise is of relatively enormous size in the lower vertebrates—as much as one fifth of the volume of the entire brain in fishes—a fact which seems to indicate great importance for the sense of smell in those forms. ”

“ MEMORY, IMAGINATION, OLD SENTIMENTS AND ASSOCIATIONS, ARE MORE READILY REACHED THROUGH THE SENSE OF SMELL THAN BY ALMOST ANY OTHER CHANNEL. Of course the particular odors which act upon each person's susceptibilities differ.—O, yes! ”

“ The objects of smell are dissolved in the fluid atmosphere, and those of taste in the saliva, or other aqueous fluid, for the better diffusing them on their respective organs, which seem to be stimulated into animal motion perhaps by the chemical affinities of these particles, which constitute the sapidity and odorosity of bodies with the nerves of sense, which perceive them. ”

“ All the smell of plants, and of other bodies, is caused by these volatile parts, and is smelled wherever they are scattered in the air; and the acuteness of smell in some animals, shews us, that these effluvia spread far, and must be inconceivably subtile. ”

“ Since, I say, smelling seems to be made by some such way, ’tis not improbable, but that some contrivance, for making a great quantity of Air pass quick through the Nose, might as much promote the sense of smelling, as the any wayes hindring that passage does dull and destroy it. ”

“ He shows at times an unhealthy predominance of the sensations of smell in his consciousness, and a perversion of the olfactory sense which make the worst odours, especially those of all human excretions, appear to him particularly agreeable and sensually stimulating. ”

“ Everyone must be able to give instances like this from the smell-sense. When we have paid the faithless plumber for pretending to mend our drains, the intellect inhibits the nose from perceiving the same unaltered odor, until perhaps several days go by. ”

“ Among the five senses, smell stands intermediate between the two (taste and touch) that operate by 469direct contact, and the other two (sight and hearing) that operate through an external medium. Man is below other animals in this sense; he discriminates little in smells except the pleasurable and the painful.88 His taste, though analogous in many points to smell, is far more accurate and discriminating, because taste is a variety of touch; and in respect to touch, man is the most discriminating of all animals. ”