Smell Society for London

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 208, 5 September 1935, Page 10

Smell Society for London

MAN WHO WANTS TO MUZZLE BILLINGSGATE J/ON DON, July 1. There are still crusaders among us . ready to fight for a cause simply be- ; cause that cause is just. They do not I count the odds, or look for reward. It is enough for thorn to know that they are in the right. Such a man is Mr. Ambrose E. Appelbe, of Ncw-square, Lincoln’s Inn, who yesterday launched the Smell Society—an organisation that will have aim the restoration of the sense of smell to the high position it used to 1101(1 in civilised life. Already the. Earl of Listowel has accepted the vice-presidency of the society, and chemists have set to work on problems connected with the banishment from our towns of all that is offensive to the sensitive nose. He Suffers a Lot. Mr. Appelbe'himself has an extreme-, lv delicate sense of smell, and is therefore forced to suffer out of all proporj tion during his ordinary day’s work in I London. I “London is full of a vast variety of smells,” he said. “Each district, for instance, has its own odour. East Ham, with its. smell of paint; Mayfair, Covent Garden, the Inns of Court— tho.su arc among the strongest. And. of ' course, there’s Billingsgate. | “I don’t say that W 8 should banish tali' these smells, many of which have a 1 most interesting character of their own, but I say that in the first place we I ,-hould banish the more nauseating 'ones, and, iu the second place, develop 1 >m.ell-coiiseiousness in the nation. | “Advertising should wake up to the j possibilities. if a restaurant propriet'or sent, me a circular that smelt pow- ■ erfully of good roast beef, I might |throw it into the waste-paper basket; but all' the morning I should be haunted by that tantalising smell and in the

lend I should be able to think of nothing else —at any rate until 1 had lunchInevitably the conversation turned nunion. As with flowers, the I’ashiou now put. colour before scent. Mr. Appelbo longs for the day when women will recognise again the value of a lovely perfume that lingers in the memory long after the colour of a dross has boon forgotten. “And I think, he said, “that the reaction is coming. Sm ell-hungry typists flock in their thousands to the stores lor bottles of scent. That is a good sign. .It must be developed.” More Flowers Mr. Appelbe wants everyone to grow more flowers —a bowl of them scented his own room —and the municipal authorities everywhere to plant more toi nasal than visual effect. The cinemas, too, must wake up. Al though it is unlikely that we shall cvci

have the “Snivilies” predicted by Aldous Huxley, there is no reason why associative scents should not be used to combine with visual reaction*. A “Smcllie Symphony” would ba ideal, and a drama enacted entirely iu perfume not outside the bounds of possibility. As the originator pointed out, there is really no limit to the possibilities of scent reform. Mr. Ambrose Appelbe.'s adventure should appeal to everyone with anj aesthetic sense. Only fools and clod: will turn up their noses at it