SCENTS OF FLOWERS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 31 December 1927, Page 9

SCENTS OF FLOWERS

A N attempt to solve this problem is made by F. A. .Hampton, in a Look entitled ‘•The Scent ol J< lowers and reaves: Ins Purpose and relation to Alan’: (London). r'tie quotations below are from a review in “The Critic and Guide” (New York). So far no theory has been put forward, the author asserts, which explains satisfactorily why w.e like that group of scents that we call “sweet.” It simplifies the question, he thinks, to use the word “sweet” rather than “pleasant”; for many scents, such as the scent of newly baked bread and of the earth alter rain, are pieasant,. but not sweet in the more definite sense in which we use this word of the jasmine and svringa. He goes on: “If we make a list of sweet scouts, we shall find that the sweetest are those of the heavy and aromatic group of flowers, aud that, in general, a scent, whether animal, vegetable, or chemical, is ‘sweet’ in so tar. as it resembles these flower scents. “The author defines a sweet scent as one that can stir the instincts of courtship It is more exact to use the ■word ‘courtship’ rather than ‘mating/ since the appeal of scent in civilised man is associated with the stirring of an emotion and not with the satisfaction of it. Since no object for the wakened instinct is presented to consciousness, the emotion set free is diffused into a vaguely pleasurable state which is the characteristic of sweetscent. “The definition of sweet scent affords a basis from which to explain certain individual and national preferences for different- types of scent, for the sweetness of scent depends upon the degree to which it stirs the primitive i instinct. It depends upon the sensi- j tiveness of the individual, and upon 1 his capacity to appreciate and remain content with a vague' and tenuous emotion. “English people- in general show a preference for rose, lavender, violet, and the more definitely aromatic scents like • clove pink. The Latin races seem to be less sensitive, and they can enjoy scents which we find unpleasantly sweet and heavy. “In the Eastern nations the preference for heavy scents is still more marked, and is extended to an ap- : preciation of scents with a strongly animal quality, such as patchouli, spikenard, and costus. This tendency ■ reaches its limit- in the- use of croco- ] dile musk by the natives of Somali-/ i land.” 1 < Havelock Ellis has -noted the connec- <

WHY THEY" ARE LIKED

tion between the natural human scent and peri nines, and Air. Hampton believes that there is little doubt that uiir appreciation of sweet smells lias its origin in the former. But our appreciation of scent, in the course of evolution, has left its primitive origin far behind, and the distance travelled is brought home to us by the scent of the tropical orchid, Dendrobium Devohianum, which has a distinctly human scent mixed with its sweetness, and is said to recall a dance-room on a warm evening. The flowers of the henna plant are reputed to have a similar character. He proceeds : “The fruit scents are more debatable, yet it can hardly be said that they appeal to our instinct of hunger l»y suggesting something good to it. It seems likely that the fruit scents seem sweet to us because they appeal to the same instinct as do the flower scents—a theory which would explain why Schiller used the scent of apples, and Alaupassant a mixture of ether and strawberries, to stimulate their imagination. “Scented flowers are more at hand in the warm climates ox the East than in Northern Eul-ope, where most of [ them need some care in cultivation, and they have always played a large part in ‘ the daily life of the people, especially in religious ceremonies. “The jasmine, lotus, and ehampae are the classical flowers of India, and are mentioned in the earliest records, praised by the poets, and to-dav the honoured guest is hung about with garlands of jasmine. “The primitive flower perfumes were faint and liable to decompose, so that a very high value was placed on the myrrhs and olibanum. for these provided a powerful, lasting, and portable perfume, the scent of which approximated to that of the flowers in sweetness, hut -needed no other preparation than to lie scraped off as it exuded from the trees. They came mcstly from Arabia, and rarity added to their fabulous value.

“Scent, as something invisible yet strongly felt, has always excited the interest of mankind, and a certain magic power has often been attributed to it. Sweet scented substances were supposed, by their tenuousness and subtlety, to act directly upon the brain, and were held to lie antidotes to disease. For the cause of disease was often pictured as a noisome, pestilential vapour, and a sweet scent, being similar in nature but opposite iri quality, was reasonably supposed l to counteract it.”