We here have a very simple
explanation of the fundamental identity of odors in the animal and
vegetable worlds. It thus comes about that from a psychological point of
view we are not really entering a new field when we begin to discuss the
influence of perfumes other than those of the animal body. We are merely
concerned with somewhat more complex or somewhat more refined sexual
odors; they are not specifically different from the human odors and they
mingle with them harmoniously. Popular language bears witness to the
truth of this statement, and the normal and abnormal human odors, as we
have already seen, are constantly compared to artificial, animal, and
plant odors, to chloroform, to musk, to violet, to mention only those
similitudes which seem to occur most frequently.
The methods now employed for obtaining the perfumes universally
used in civilized lands are three: (1) the extraction of
odoriferous compounds from the neutral products in which they
occur; (2) the artificial preparation of naturally occurring
odoriferous compounds by synthetic processes; (3) the manufacture
of materials which yield odors resembling those of pleasant
smelling natural objects.
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