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But very likely
the reader is quite as extravagant, for when one buys the natural violet
perfumery he is paying at the rate of more than $10,000 a pound for the
odoriferous oil it contains; the rest is mere water and alcohol. But you
would not want the pure undiluted oil if you could get it, for it is
unendurable. A single whiff of it paralyzes your sense of smell for a
time just as a loud noise deafens you.
Of the five senses, three are physical and two chemical. By touch we
discern pressures and surface textures. By hearing we receive
impressions of certain air waves and by sight of certain ether waves.
But smell and taste lead us to the heart of the molecule and enable us
to tell how the atoms are put together. These twin senses stand like
sentries at the portals of the body, where they closely scrutinize
everything that enters. Sounds and sights may be disagreeable, but they
are never fatal. A man can live in a boiler factory or in a cubist art
gallery, but he cannot live in a room containing hydrogen sulfide.


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