Page:Dan McKenzie - Aromatics and the Soul.pdf/52

40 of his, he goes on : “For emission substitute undulation, and the problem of the Great Peacock is explained, Without losing any of its substance a luminous point shakes the ether with its vibrations and fills a circle of indefinite width with light…

“It does not emit molecules ; it vibrates ; it sets in motion waves capable of spreading to distances incompatible with a real diffusion of matter.

“In its entirety smell would thus seem to have two domains : that of particles dissolved in the air and that of ethereal waves. The first alone is known to us. …

“The second, which is far superior in its range through space, escapes us altogether, because we lack the necessary sensory equipment. The Great Peacock and the Banded Monk know it at the time of the nuptial rejoicings. And many others must share it in various degrees according to the exigencies of their mode of life.”

In criticism of this conclusion of Fabre, however, we must again draw attention to the fact that in the case of the Greater Peacock he found that a plug of cotton-wool was sufficient to prevent the emanation leaving the immediate neighbourhood of the female, a circumstance strongly in favour of some material exhalation which was