A Neglected Sense.
Dr. Edward T. Seizer, a perfumery expert, made some pleasant prophecies in an address before the American Chemical Society. “Just as the chemist has been able to compound the different chemicals to produce the delightful fragrance of new-mown hay," he said, " so in time will he make perfume that will have the refreshing odor of the sea breeze, the exhilarating fragrance abounding within the forest after a warm rain, and the many charming odors which prevail at the various seasons in the fields."
In that day we can have the springtime fragrance at Christmas, the nutty smell of October in April, country odors in the city and city odors in the country. Perhaps then, if not before, we shall awake to the value of our noses.
The sense of smell is the least esteemed and the least developed of our senses. The greyhound does with his nose what we cannot do with our eyes. He is as far above us in the power to smell as the sailor is in the power to see. And we do not seem to care. We have only five senses, and we appear quite willing to go through life with one-fifth of them just where it was when we were born, or even in a cruder or crippled state, destroyed by catarrh and heedlessness.
One enthusiast in regard to the nose once proposed a fragrance concert. Odors were to be wafted over the room, changed in sweet succession, blended in strange harmonies, doing for the nostrils what a symphony orchestra does for the ears. Some day this may come about, but first the average nose must go through a long course of education.
It is said that the rarest feature to be found in its perfection is a nose, faultless in outline, size, and general character. Beautiful eyes, mouths, -even ears, we find very often, but a beautiful nose is worth a journey across the continent to see.
And if the hunt were for a skilled nose, we might well make a trip around the world!