Unwelcome Eccentrics of the Sense of Smell.

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 16, 17 February 1894, Page 11

Unwelcome Eccentrics of the Sense of Smell.

Hay fever and an analogous affection, attributed to the odor of roses when in bloom and variously known as rose cold, rose ratarrh, etc., have been observed in many countries. The sense of smell, like the other faculties, is liable to undergo modification or intensification, so to speak, at times. Every one is aware how painfully acute the senses, especially those of hearing and seeing, become during exhausting illness and in certain nervous'conditions. And the faculty of smelling is singularly subject to variation, both in disease and health. Numerous well authenticated cases have been recorded of individuals, evidently in the enjoyment of good health, who have been suddenly affected by the smell of some flower or animal. Some persons cannot bear the scent of particular flowers, such as, for instance roses, and geraniums, and an anecdote is told of a distinguished general who, although he had gone through many campaigns with great bravery, always turned pale and fainted at the smell of roses suddenly held before him. Others again are visibly disturbed and annoyed by the smell of different animals. Dr. Carpenter relates the case of a blind gentleman who could always tell by his sense of smell whenever a cat came into the room. Hay fever is more frequently observed in rural districts than in towns, and in the suburbs than in the central parts of large cities, and it is also more common in localities where grass is chiefly grown than those in which wheat crops are principally cultivated or which are situated near to the sea coast.