In my experience smell is most important, and I find that there is high authority for the nobility of the sense which we have neglected and disparaged13. It is recorded that the Lord commanded that incense14 be burnt before him continually with a sweet savour. I doubt if there is any sensation arising from sight more delightful15 than the odours which filter through sun-warmed, wind-tossed branches, or the tide of scents which swells16, subsides17, rises again wave on wave, filling the wide world with invisible sweetness. A whiff of the universe makes us dream of worlds we have never seen, recalls in a flash entire epochs of our dearest experience. I never smell daisies without living over again the ecstatic mornings that my teacher and I spent wandering in the fields, while I learned new words and the names of things. Smell is a potent18 wizard that transports us across a thousand miles and all the years we have lived. The odour of fruits wafts19 me to my Southern home, to my childish frolics in the peach orchard20. Other odours, instantaneous and fleeting21, cause my heart to dilate22 joyously24 or contract with remembered grief. Even as I think of smells, my nose is full of scents that start awake sweet memories of summers gone and ripening25 grain fields far away.
The faintest whiff from a meadow where the new-mown hay lies in the hot sun displaces the here and the now. I am back again in the old red barn. My little friends and I are playing in the haymow. A huge mow26 it is, packed with crisp, sweet hay, from the top of which the smallest child can reach the straining rafters. In their stalls beneath are the farm animals. Here is Jerry, unresponsive, unbeautiful Jerry, crunching27 his oats like a true pessimist28, resolved to find his feed not good—at least not so good as it ought to be. Again I touch Brownie, eager, grateful little Brownie, ready to leave the juiciest fodder29 for a pat, straining his beautiful, slender neck for a caress30. Near by stands Lady Belle31, with sweet, moist mouth, lazily extracting the sealed-up cordial from timothy and clover, and dreaming of deep June pastures and murmurous32 streams.
The sense of smell has told me of a coming storm hours before there was any sign of it visible. I notice first a throb33 of expectancy34, a slight quiver, a concentration in my nostrils35. As the storm draws nearer, my nostrils dilate the better to receive the flood of earth-odours which seem to multiply and extend, until I feel the splash of rain against my cheek. As the tempest departs, receding36 farther and farther, the odours fade, become fainter and fainter, and die away beyond the bar of space.
I know by smell the kind of house we enter. I have recognized an old-fashioned country house because it has several layers of odours, left by a succession of families, of plants, perfumes, and draperies.
In the evening quiet there are fewer vibrations37 than in the daytime, and then I rely more largely upon smell. The sulphuric scent2 of a match tells me that the lamps are being lighted. Later I note the wavering trail of odour that flits about and disappears. It is the curfew signal; the lights are out for the night.
Out of doors I am aware by smell and touch of the ground we tread and the places we pass. Sometimes, when there is no wind, the odours are so grouped that I know the character of the country, and can place a hayfield, a country store, a garden, a barn, a grove38 of pines, a farmhouse39 with the windows open.
The other day I went to walk toward a familiar wood. Suddenly a disturbing odour made me pause in dismay. Then followed a peculiar40, measured jar, followed by dull, heavy thunder. I understood the odour and the jar only too well. The trees were being cut down. We climbed the stone wall to the left. It borders the wood which I have loved so long that it seems to be my peculiar possession. But to-day an unfamiliar41 rush of air and an unwonted outburst of sun told me that my tree friends were gone. The place was empty, like a deserted42 dwelling43. I stretched out my hand. Where once stood the steadfast44 pines, great, beautiful, sweet, my hand touched raw, moist stumps45. All about lay broken branches, like the antlers of stricken deer. The fragrant46, piled-up sawdust swirled47 and tumbled about me. An unreasoning resentment48 flashed through me at this ruthless destruction of the beauty that I love. But there is no anger, no resentment in nature. The air is equally charged with the odours of life and of destruction, for death equally with growth forever ministers to all-conquering life. The sun shines as ever, and the winds riot through the newly opened spaces. I know that a new forest will spring where the old one stood, as beautiful, as beneficent.
Touch sensations are permanent and definite. Odours deviate49 and are fugitive50, changing in their shades, degrees, and location. There is something else in odour which gives me a sense of distance. I should call it horizon—the line where odour and fancy meet at the farthest limit of scent.
Smell gives me more idea than touch or taste of the manner in which sight and hearing probably discharge their functions. Touch seems to reside in the object touched, because there is a contact of surfaces. In smell there is no notion of relievo, and odour seems to reside not in the object smelt51, but in the organ. Since I smell a tree at a distance, it is comprehensible to me that a person sees it without touching52 it. I am not puzzled over the fact that he receives it as an image on his retina without relievo, since my smell perceives the tree as a thin sphere with no fullness or content. By themselves, odours suggest nothing. I must learn by association to judge from them of distance, of place, and of the actions or the surroundings which are the usual occasions for them, just as I am told people judge from colour, light, and sound.
From exhalations I learn much about people. I often know the work they are engaged in. The odours of wood, iron, paint, and drugs cling to the garments of those that work in them. Thus I can distinguish the carpenter from the ironworker, the artist from the mason or the chemist. When a person passes quickly from one place to another I get a scent impression of where he has been—the kitchen, the garden, or the sick-room. I gain pleasurable ideas of freshness and good taste from the odours of soap, toilet water, clean garments, woollen and silk stuffs, and gloves.
I have not, indeed, the all-knowing scent of the hound or the wild animal. None but the halt and the blind need fear my skill in pursuit; for there are other things besides water, stale trails, confusing cross tracks to put me at fault. Nevertheless, human odours are as varied53 and capable of recognition as hands and faces. The dear odours of those I love are so definite, so unmistakable, that nothing can quite obliterate54 them. If many years should elapse before I saw an intimate friend again, I think I should recognize his odour instantly in the heart of Africa, as promptly55 as would my brother that barks.
Once, long ago, in a crowded railway station, a lady kissed me as she hurried by. I had not touched even her dress. But she left a scent with her kiss which gave me a glimpse of her. The years are many since she kissed me. Yet her odour is fresh in my memory.
It is difficult to put into words the thing itself, the elusive56 person-odour. There seems to be no adequate vocabulary of smells, and I must fall back on approximate phrase and metaphor57.
Some people have a vague, unsubstantial odour that floats about, mocking every effort to identify it. It is the will-o'-the-wisp of my olfactive experience. Sometimes I meet one who lacks a distinctive58 person-scent, and I seldom find such a one lively or entertaining. On the other hand, one who has a pungent59 odour often possesses great vitality60, energy, and vigour61 of mind.
Masculine exhalations are as a rule stronger, more vivid, more widely differentiated62 than those of women. In the odour of young men there is something elemental, as of fire, storm, and salt sea. It pulsates63 with buoyancy and desire. It suggests all things strong and beautiful and joyous23, and gives me a sense of physical happiness. I wonder if others observe that all infants have the same scent—pure, simple, undecipherable as their dormant64 personality. It is not until the age of six or seven that they begin to have perceptible individual odours. These develop and mature along with their mental and bodily powers.
What I have written about smell, especially person-smell, will perhaps be regarded as the abnormal sentiment of one who can have no idea of the "world of reality and beauty which the eye perceives." There are people who are colour-blind, people who are tone-deaf. Most people are smell-blind-and-deaf. We should not condemn65 a musical composition on the testimony66 of an ear which cannot distinguish one chord from another, or judge a picture by the verdict of a colour-blind critic. The sensations of smell which cheer, inform, and broaden my life are not less pleasant merely because some critic who treads the wide, bright pathway of the eye has not cultivated his olfactive sense. Without the shy, fugitive, often unobserved sensations and the certainties which taste, smell, and touch give me, I should be obliged to take my conception of the universe wholly from others. I should lack the alchemy by which I now infuse into my world light, colour, and the Protean67 spark. The sensuous68 reality which interthreads and supports all the gropings of my imagination would be shattered. The solid earth would melt from under my feet and disperse69 itself in space. The objects dear to my hands would become formless, dead things, and I should walk among them as among invisible ghosts.
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1
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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beguiles
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| v.欺骗( beguile的第三人称单数 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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disparaged
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| v.轻视( disparage的过去式和过去分词 )；贬低；批评；非难 | |
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14
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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17
subsides
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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wafts
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| n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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21
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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26
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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27
crunching
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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28
pessimist
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| n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世 | |
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fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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31
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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32
murmurous
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| adj.低声的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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35
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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36
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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37
vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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38
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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40
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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41
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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42
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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43
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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44
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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45
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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46
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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47
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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49
deviate
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| v.(from)背离，偏离 | |
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50
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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51
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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52
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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53
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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54
obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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56
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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59
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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63
pulsates
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| v.有节奏地舒张及收缩( pulsate的第三人称单数 )；跳动；脉动；受（激情）震动 | |
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64
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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65
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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66
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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67
protean
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| adj.反复无常的；变化自如的 | |
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sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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