Original Content
On the evening of April 26, 2017 at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City, Columbia University Presidential Scholars Philosopher of Science Ann-Sophie Barwich lectured to a group of about 25 individuals on the concept of smell, how to classify it and what is it for. Barwich’s lecture, entitled “Scent Track: What can the History of Olfaction tell us about Theorizing in the Life Sciences?” examined the body’s olfactory system, which includes the nose, the brain and the nerve endings between them. She examined what is odor and determined that both social and natural scientists still really don’t know yet, giving kudos to the large, ever changing perfume industry.
Barwich explained, “[Scientists] have a hard time visualizing odor… and odors tend to be fleeting.” Between all our history of working with perfumes scientist still don’t know how to classify smells well and what the perceptual dimension of smells are. For while ancient Greek philosophers tried to describe smells as either particles or waves, it wasn’t until 1310 when the Serpentine Cooler was invented that people began to preserve perfumes. Furthermore, it is only since the 1970s that the sciences has seriously taken a look at smell. Many of the “grandfathers” of this field of study in subjects of neuroscience, psychology and biology, Barwich continued, are still alive today.
Neurologically, the nose almost has a “direct pathway from air to the brain.” Compared to our other senses of the body this is unique. Smell is also extremely associated with taste. “If one were to drink whisky, and pinched their nose, they would only taste alcohol,” Barwich said, but if they were to stop pinching their nose, the full taste of the whisky would take effect.
Scientists understand that, but with all the technology that we have, especially in medicine, like MRIs and even with the contribution of computers, would’t it be easier to classify smells? Barwich said this is not so. “Technology doesn’t help because you can’t capture smell in routine practices,” she told the audience. Moreover, “There are molecules with a completely different structure and they smell the same,” she said. It should also be noted that it has been found that molecules with a similar structure and don’t smell like the smell intended when the chemistry of the original structure was reproduced.
This is what make the perfumery industry amazing. What’s even more amazing is the realization that before the fragrance “Channel No. 5” was produced in the 1970s, there had never been a synthetic fragrance on the market. Now this is not even closer to a reality.
More on Barwich and smells can be found at her bio.