Chapter II. Apparatus and Materials.
Section 1. The Standard and Fluid-Mantle Olfactometers.
In our experiments, we employed the single “standard” olfactometer and a double form of the “fluid-mantle” olfactometer, Both instruments were supplied from Utrecht. The sliding tubes used with the standard or small olfactometer were formed of the odorous material itself, and covered with an outer tube of glass. Porcelain cylinders, saturated with odorous solutions, and fitted into larger glass tubes, have been largely used by Zwaardemaker in connection with this simple instrument. We, however, used the porcelain cylinders only with the large or fluid-mantle olfactometer. We shall reserve the consideration of the preparation of the odorous substances to the next section, Here we shall describe the screen and inhaling-tube of the small instrument, and all the appurtenances of the large instrument, except the odorous solutions.
I. Standard Olfactometer. The glass inhaling-tube has a total length of 15 cm. and a bore of 5 mm. The glass varies in different tubes from 1 to 13 mm. in thickness. The portion which curves upward to fit into the nostril is never more than 11⁄2 cm. long. Zwaardemaker says that the angle of the bend seems to make no difference with the results of the experiment. He himself makes it a right angle, but Reuter makes it an angle of 40 degrees.[1] A metal sleeve carrying a raised bead at the edge towards the bent end of the tube and buttoning into a metal ring in the center of the small wooden screen is fastened to the tube in such a position as to allow 10 cm. to project beyond the screen. This portion is graduated into twenty divisions of 5 mm. each. The securing of the metal to the tube is a serious problem in practice. We were able to find neither odorless glue nor cement which would withstand the constant washing of the tube, and the drying over the spirit-flame, a performance which must be repeated from four to a dozen times in a single hour. We finally solved the difficulty for ourselves by pasting with freshly dissolved gum arabic a strip of paper to the tube, and working the metal ring lown over it, where i; fitted so tightly as not to be removed without a process of soaking. The graduated tubes can be easily duplicated by any glassware firm,[2] They are so frequently broken in cleaning by an unpracticed operator that no extended course of experiments should be undertaken without laying in a stock of them.
The screen is a square bit of cherry wood,—71⁄2 cm. broad by 10 cm. high by 1 cm, thick,—furnished with a handle and coated with varnish which is supposed to be odorless. The screen must, however, be freely exposed to the air, and when new, must be well sunned, or it will have a decided smell of its own. Its double purpose is to serve as a handle, and protect the nostril not in use from the odor of the sliding cylinder. The subject in making his determination holds the handle of the screen in his left hand and moves the cylinder with his right.[3]
- ↑ P. 104.
- ↑ Messrs. Eimer and Amend, of New York, courteously duplicated for us all of our imported tubes.
- ↑ The standard olfactometer can be made in any laboratory. See the directions given in Sanford: Experimentat Psychology, p. 371. Scripture’s blotting paper olfactometer as, made by Willyoung, is rendered useless by the vulcanized India-rubber of the inhaling-tubes. We substituted for the inner glass-tube, rubber-tube, and nose-piece, a glass tube bent at right angles and expanded into a nose-piece at its upper end. The dimensions of this tube, however, make it very breakable, and it is quite impossible to clean it except by blowing through it.
