Page:Dan McKenzie - Aromatics and the Soul.pdf/127

Rh ascends through the throat into the nose receives the concentrated vapours of the warmed volatile higher alcohols which are clinging about the fauces.

We may here remark that although we are usually able to perceive that the odour and the flavour of a sapid food or drink are akin to each other, the sensation of the odour anticipating that of the flavour, yet they are by no means always identical. They may strike us as do a plain and a coloured version of the same print. Sometimes the flavour seems to be the more powerful, sometimes the odour. Nearly all bouillons, for example, possess a flavour more rich and full than the odour they give off with their steam. On the other hand, valerian has a strong, objectionable smell, which, strange to say, becomes subdued and relatively tolerable when that medicine is being swallowed.

It is a curious fact, well known to expert “tasters,” that if the cyes are kept closed during the test, the delicacy of appreciation of flavours, and also of the smell of the wine in the glass, is entirely lost. I cannot suggest any explanation for this curious phenomenon.

Anosmia, absence of smell, which is the next topic for our consideration, is a not uncommon defect. It is generally the result of some form of Rh