APPRECIATION OF SCENTS

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1928, Page 8

APPRECIATION OF SCENTS

It is commonly admitted that the sense of smell is not with us so keen as once it was. “Civilisation,” says ,T. A. Thomson “has staked so much on eye and oar that man’s sense of smell seems on tlie down-grade.”

In far-off days a keen sense of smell was doubtless as useful as keen sight or keen hearing. Primitive man depended on its announcements much more than we do. Modern life has, in many ways, dispensed with the service of this sense. The nose no longer shares equal dignity with eve and ear. Things have their own characteristic fragrance. Each knows how to* clstd its own sweetness. The odour is as unmistakable as the plant. The variety is amazing. An attempt to catalogue the fragrance of the earth is a revelation of the abounding wealth that awaits this sense. Merely to go over ’the fragrances that we know lingering in thought over each.., how good it is—the odour of the newlv-turn-ed earth, the scent of pine woods, mint, lavendnr, rosemary, thyme, woodruff, and all the herbs, the sweetness of roses, of honeysuckle, of mignonette, of the evening; primrose, the clean aroma of clover fields, or of newlymown grass, boginyrtle, cherry wood, geranium. There is the odour of apnles and tangerine oranges, of cloves, of newly-ground coffee, of wood smoke. Each can make his own list, and with each separate odour that one knows ■veil will be a store of memories. Fothe sense of smell is a loyal handmaid of memory; often most precious things are given into its keeping. So that a sudden whiff of lavender or of p : ne or of wood smoke will restore smue wondrous bygone hour. This association with memory is an enchantment of something that even for its*own sake is ureeicuis. How great wealth is stored under the one word fragrance.

In regard to this sense, perhaps the first need is to b #> persuaded of the new ioy it may bring to us, to believe chut its gifts are not less previous than those of eye and of ear. Then smne effort must he made to enter into tlie wai.tin"* heritage. There needs a discipline of the senses, no less than of the muscles, for fitness. To go into morning fields with a oismrette as our '•r>"'r , *anjon is to disqualify ourselves. We- must make our choice. The sense must he cared for, protected. It is a most sensitive gift, to bo carefudv treasured.—Frank Garth, in the Woman’s Magazine.