The Nose

This chapter will be short. The nose is the origin of the sense of smelland the sense of smell is something which seems to allow of no augmentation or intensifiation.The moment this book is printed.I shall probably remember a few dozen inventions that have to do with man's desire to multiply the powers of his nose, but just now I can't for the life of me think of a single one.And I am somewhat puzzled by the apparent neglect of such a tremendously useful organ.Perhaps the reason is to be found in the fact that the sense of smell is one of those heritages of our biological past which have been less impaired by the weakening process of civilization than any of the others.

I have a suspicion that even to-day our nose is a much more faithful and reliable guide in our daily intercourse with our neighbors than we should ever be willing to confess. To most people there is something indelicate about the nose.It makes them think of colds and painfully reminds them of their close affinity with those lower animals which“smell”their way through life in a visible(often an all-too-visible)fashion.The average person would angrily resent the implication that his nose had anything at all to do with his public conduct.Quite as much as he would recoil from being told“right out in meeting”that he was a mammal.I might as well let it go at that.A thousand years from now we may be bright enough to pay some attention to our olfactory potentialities.

To-day we are not, and in the museum devoted to the achievements of Multiplex Man the nose is not to be found. The poor proboscis stands sniffling outside, the Cinderella among the organs, doing a thousand odd jobs and getting no other recognition than an occasional flick of a perfumed handkerchief.