It thus comes about that the grosser manifestations of sexual allurement
by smell belong, so far as man is concerned, to a remote animal past which
we have outgrown and which, on account of the diminished acuity of our
olfactory organs, we could not completely recall even if we desired to;
the sense of sight inevitably comes into play long before it is possible
for close contact to bring into action the sense of smell. But the latent
possibilities of sexual allurement by olfaction, which are inevitably
embodied in the nervous structure we have inherited from our animal
ancestors, still remain ready to be called into play. They emerge
prominently from time to time in exceptional and abnormal persons. They
tend to play an unusually larger part in the psychic lives of neurasthenic
persons, with their sensitive and comparatively unbalanced nervous
systems, and this is doubtless the reason why poets and men of letters
have insisted on olfactory impressions so frequently and to so notable a
degree; for the same reason sexual inverts are peculiarly susceptible to
odors. For a different reason, warmer climates, which heighten all odors
and also favor the growth of powerfully odorous plants, lead to a
heightened susceptibility to the sexual and other attractions of smell
even among normal persons; thus we find a general tendency to delight in
odors throughout the East, notably in India, among the ancient Hebrews,
and in Mohammedan lands.
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