Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXIt would thus be by a moleculo-vibratory, rather than bya chemical, energy that smells activate the affective paths.Other authorities, however, like G. H. Parker, are contentto regard smell as the chief of the "chemical" senses, afterwe have separatedthe "mechanical" senses (stimulated bypressure, or sound, or light); the chemical senses datefrom primitive aquatic life and, while dominated bysmell, would also include taste, the function of the organof Jacobson (opening into the nose) , and a commonchemical sense. Even yet, however, it can scarcely be saidthat any large body of assured conclusions has beenreached.The sense of smell stillremains close to touch in thevagueness of its messages though its associations are oftenhighly emotional. It is the existence of these characteristicsat once so vague and so specific,so useless and sointimate which has led various writers to describe thesense of smell as, above all others, the sense of imagination.No sense has so strong a power of suggestion, thepower of calling up ancient memories with a wide anddeep emotional reverberation, while at the same time nosense furnishes impressions which so easily change emotionalcolor and tone, in harmony with the recipient'sgeneral attitude. Odors are thus specially apt both tocontrol the emotional life and to become its slaves. Underthe conditions of civilization the primitive emotionalassociations of odor tend to be dispersed, but, on the otherhand, the imaginative side of the olfactory sense becomesaccentuated, and personal idiosyncrasies tend to manifestthemselves in this sphere.Odors are powerful stimulants to the whole nervoussystem, causing, like other stimulants, an increase of energywhich, if excessive or prolonged, leads to nervousexhaustion. Thus, it is well recognized that the aromatics[52]