Page:Observations on Man 1834.djvu/151

 the senses, and taste of the greatest, while yet the nerves of taste are comparatively small.

We may add here, that the smell is a guide and guard placed before the taste, as that is before the stomach, in a great degree in men, but much more so in brutes, who have scarce any other means, than that of smell, whereby to distinguish what foods are proper for them. It is likewise probable, that the smell is a guard to the lungs; and that the grateful odours of flowers, fruits, and vegetable productions, in general, are an indication of the wholesomeness of country air; as the offensiveness of putrefaction, sulphureous fumes, &c. warn us beforehand of their mischievous effects upon the lungs. However, the rule is not universal in either case.



has been delivered concerning the ideas of feeling and taste, may be applied to the smell. We cannot, by the power of our will or fancy, raise up any miniatures or ideas of particular smells, so as to perceive them evidently. However, the associated circumstances seem to have some power of affecting the organ of smell, and the corresponding part of the brain, in a particular manner; whence we are prepared to receive and distinguish the several smells more readily, and more accurately, on account of the previous influence of these associated circumstances. And, conversely, the actual smells of natural bodies enable us to determine them, though we do not see them, always negatively, and often positively, i.e. by suggesting their names, and visible appearances. And, when we are at a loss in the last respect, the name or visible appearance of the body will immediately revive the connexion.



automatic motions are of three kinds; viz. the inspiration, by which young brute animals, especially quadrupeds, impress and increase the odours of their respective foods; the contraction of the fauces, and upper part of the gullet, which arises from those agreeable flavours, which ascend behind the uvula into the nose; and the action of sneezing.

As to the first; it is peculiar to brutes, children not using any methods of improving odours, till they are arrived at two or three years of age. The reasons of this difference may be, that the smell in many brutes is the leading sense; that their noses are long and large, and the ossa spongiosa hollowed by innumerable cells; whereas in young children the nose is depressed; the pituitary membrane loaded with mucus; and, when they grow