Page:Dan McKenzie - Aromatics and the Soul.pdf/115

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Theories of Olfaction
103

sure with a query, that coffee, bread, and burnt sugar may belong to the “repulsive” (pyridine) group !

The fact is that Zwaardemaker's classification is based upon a chemical foundation, that is to say, upon properties which, as we shall see later on, do not necessarily correspond with the odours as we smell them. That, no doubt, explains his inclusion of iodoform among the “fruity” odours.—lodoform fruity !—Shades of George Saintsbury and his “Cellar Book” !

A shorter classification is that of Heyninx, who, aiming at objectivity, bases his arrangement, to some extent at all events, upon the spectrum analysis of odorous molecules in the atmospheric medium, of which more anon. His list is : acrid, rotten, fetid, burning, spicy, vanillar or ethereal, and garlicky. But here, also, the coupling of vanillar with ethereal odours seems a little inappropriate.

We stand, perhaps, on rather firmer ground when we turn to the manufacturer’s classification, founded as it is frankly upon subjective sensation, and therefore devoid of any surprises to the logical faculty. Here is Rimmel's arrangement : rose, Jasmine, orange, tuberose, violet, balsam, spice, clove, camphor, sandal-wood, lemon, lavender, mint, anise, almond, musk, ambergris, fruit (pear).

It may be objected, perhaps, that this is a