The Sense of Smell in the Neuroses and Psychoses41

The sense of smell unlike the sense of sight plays a very small part in the life of civilized man. One frequently hears the expression "Yes, I see," or "I can't see," which shows the great part played by sight in our psychic operations and that seeing is equivalent to understanding; but one never hears an expression such as, "Yes, I smell it," unless the expression concretely refers to some odor. Modern man has little need of his sense of smell. The female sex, to be sure, makes use of artificial perfumes, but this procedure has apparently an entirely different purport. As a rule civilized man is not only independent of this sense, but dislikes any odors emanating from human beings. A man on the verge of proposing to a young lady was suddenly stopped by the odor of perfume which came from behind her ears. This is an extreme case, but it is well known that most people dislike any human odor and that men are especially sensitive to the so-called odeur de la femme. Indeed, most men dislike even delicate artificial perfumes in women, and the old Latin saying, "Mulier tum bene olet, ubi nihil olet," is equally true to-day. Like many other physicians I have seen many a marital disruption as a result of oezenas and halitoses. Havelock Ellis1 who made a thorough compilation of the subject states: "Under the usual conditions of life in Europe personal odor has sunk into the background; this has been so equally under the conditions of classic, mediaeval, and modern life. Personal odor has been generally regarded as unaesthetic." Indeed,