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 THEORIES OF OLFACTION (The Piéce de Résistance)

anatomical structure of the olfactory end- organ in the nose is, as we saw in Chapter II., simple.

Contrast it with the eye. Here we have what is obviously an optical instrument, with lens, iris diaphragm, dark walls, and sensitive plate complete—a photographic camera, in a word.

Contrast it also with the ear, which is an acoustic apparatus reminding us in its detail of a recording gramophone leading to a closed box in which are what look like a series of resonators, like the wires of a piano.

In the antechamber of each of those organs the physical vibrations to which they respond undergo considerable modification before they reach the sensory cells.

In the antechamber of the olfactory organ, on the other hand, the amount of modification necessary is evidently but slight, as the olfactory region of the nasal chamber is merely a narrow, open Rh