Smell Essay

Before

In this essay on the sense of smell, I am planning on writing a persuasive essay on why smell is the most important sense.  I plan to include a lot of text from the sources I use in my paper to help back up my points.  I hope that I am able to persuade my reader into agreeing with my reasoning of the importance of smell.  My intended audience for this essay is my classmate.

 

 

The Intense Power of Smell

            “Nothing is more memorable than a smell” (Ackerman 5).  This quote is very true because smell is the most important sense a living being can have.  The sense of smell is something that you use almost every spilt second of your life.  It is by far the most powerful and distinct of all the five senses.  One reason that our sense of smell is so powerful is that it goes straight to our brain.  According to Steve Pearce, the sense of smell works by the nerve receptors being linked directly to the brain.  Nothing is between the nerve receptors and the brain, unlike the other senses.  The direct contact implies that one gets a very quick and intensive reaction to the odors.

            One needs to have the sense of smell in order to have other senses such as the sense of taste.  Without the sense of smell you wouldn’t be able to taste anything.  Personally, I extremely dislike when I become ill.  This is because when your sinuses become congested you can’t smell anything.  So when I try and eat, I’m unable to taste my food.  Therefore, I normally will eat just about anything when I’m sick since I am not able to taste it.

            In A Natural History of the Senses, author Diane Ackerman states that “We see only when there is light enough, taste only when we put things into our mouths, touch only when we make contact with someone or something, hear only sounds that are loud enough.  But we smell always and with every breath.  Cover your eyes and you will stop

seeing, cover your ears and you will stop hearing, but if you cover your nose and try to stop smelling, you will die” (6).  This is certainly true because we as humans breathe roughly 23,040 times a day and move about 438 cubic feet of air when we breathe

 (Ackerman 6).  This shows that with every breath that we take in; we are also taking in and absorbing odors. 

            We use smell as one of our main sources of judgment.  For example, if you don’t like the smell of cantaloupe, then you aren’t going to eat it.  Or if you can’t stand the smell of beer, you more than likely won’t go around drinking it.  In a sense, smell gives us our first impression of many different things.  According to Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, “People judge a product based on the way it smells.  If it smells good, we perceive it as good.”  This could be for anything from food, a type of perfume, an air freshener, or even the scent of a car. 

Dr. Alan Hirsch states that “some odors are so irritating that they cause a trigeminal stimulation, the same kind that makes chili peppers “hot” or mints “cool” in the mouth.  Trigeminal stimulation releases adrenaline, leading to a tense and angry state.  In the presence of bad odors, people tend to be more aggressive.  This is how the sense of smell works.”  Hirsch also states that “there are days when there are more bad odors in air pollution, people are driving more aggressively and they tend to get in more accidents.”   I found this research particularly interesting because I know that I have experienced random incidents of road rage while behind the wheel when I am normally a pretty calm

driver.  In his studies, Dr. Alan Hirsch shows that our sense of smell affects most of the things that we do in our everyday lives.  Especially affecting things we do not realize

such as our mood, emotions, and how we react to different situations.  Smell is a very mysterious sense in how it affects people, however, it is very necessary for the way of life.

Everyone and everything has its own unique scent.  A person’s odor is as individual as a fingerprint (Ackerman 23).  I have especially noticed this with houses.  My friend’s homes’ each have their own exclusive scent and whenever I leave their house, I smell like it.  Diane Ackerman describes this well in A Natural History of the Senses by saying that “meat eaters smell different from vegetarians, children smell different from adults, smokers smell different from nonsmokers; other individuals smell different because of heredity factors, health, occupation, diet, medication, emotional state, and even mood” (23).

The sense of smell also can affect the relationship between a man and woman.  Robert Henkin, from the Center for Sensory Disorders at Georgetown University, had studies done that suggested that about a quarter of people with smell disorders find that their sex drive disappears (Ackerman 43).  This is especially prone to women more than men.  For example, “when a woman’s man is away, or her lover dies, a grief-stricken woman goes to his closet and takes out a shirt or bathrobe, presses it to her face, and is overwhelmed by how she feels for him” (Ackerman 43).  This shows how much we as humans rely on the sense of smell.

             One thing I personally really love about the sense of smell is how you can distinguish between sweet summer days, a cool fall day with the smell of burning leaves, or the smell of the humidity after a rain shower.   Helen Keller wrote that “the sense of smell has told me of a coming storm hours before there was any sign of it visible.  I notice first a throb of expectancy, a slight quiver, a concentration in my nostrils.  As the storm draws near my nostrils dilate, the better to receive the flood of earth odors which seem to multiply and extend, until I feel the splash of rain against my cheek.  As the tempest departs, receding farther and farther, the odors fade, become fainter and fainter, and die away beyond the bar of space” (Ackerman 44). I also found it interesting that perfume smells strongest right before a storm.  “This is partly due to the fact that moisture increases our sense of smell and because the low pressure makes a fluid as volatile as perfume spread even faster” (Ackerman 44).

By a long shot, smell is our most powerful and necessary sense.  We use it for more things than we can imagine and would be at a loss without it in our lives.  This is not just a matter of opinion but also a proven fact from researchers.  As Helen Keller stated, “Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived.  The odors of fruits waft me to my southern home, to my childhood frolics in the peach orchard.  Other odors, instantaneous and fleeting, cause my heart to dilate joyously or contract with remembered grief.  Even as I think of smells, my nose is full of scents that start awake sweet memories of summers gone and ripening fields far away” (Ackerman 4). 

 

After writing this essay I hope that I have achieved my goals.  I have included three sources that I used in my paper like what was assigned.  I have also included a lot of information in my essay from these sources to help show my point.  I hope that I have proved to my audience why the sense of smell is so important and necessary for our lives.

 

Ackerman, Diane. A Natural History of the Senses. New York: Random House, 1990.

Brown, Denise. The Power of Smell. 11 December 2008. 11 February 2009

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2008/09/28/east_smells_s14_w2_feature.shtml  >

Moran, Tim. “The Mysterious Human Sense of Smell: So Primitive and So Powerful.”  

            The New York Times 14 May 2000. 8 February 2009

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html.

Revision 

The Intense Power of Smell

            “Nothing is more memorable than a smell” (Ackerman 5).  This quote is very true because smell is the most important sense a living being can have.  The sense of smell is something that one will use quite frequently in their life.  It is by far the most powerful and distinct of all the five senses.  One reason that our sense of smell is so powerful is that it goes straight to our brain.  According to Steve Pearce, “the sense of smell works by the nerve receptors being linked directly to the brain.  Nothing is between the nerve receptors and the brain, unlike the other senses.  The direct contact implies that one gets a very quick and intensive reaction to the odors” (Brown).

            One needs to have the sense of smell in order to have other senses such as the sense of taste.  Without the sense of smell you would not be able to taste anything.  I know that I experience this when I am sick.  When my sinuses become congested, I am unable to smell anything.  Then when I try to eat, I am unable to taste my food.  Therefore, I normally will eat just about anything when I am sick because I am not able to taste it.

In A Natural History of the Senses, author Diane Ackerman states that [W]e see only when there is light enough, taste only when we put things into our mouths, touch only when we make contact with someone or something, hear only sounds that are loud enough.  But we smell always and with every breath.  Cover your eyes and you will stop seeing, cover your ears and you will stop hearing, but if you cover your nose and try to stop smelling, you will die. (Ackerman 6)

This is certainly true because we as humans breathe roughly 23,040 times a day and move about 438 cubic feet of air when we breathe (Ackerman 6).  This shows that with every breath that we take in, we are also taking in and absorbing odors. 

            We use smell as one of our main sources of judgment.  For example, if you do not like the smell of cantaloupe, then you aren’t going to eat it.  Or if you can’t stand the smell of beer, you more than likely will not go around drinking it.  In a sense, smell gives us our first impression of many different things.  According to Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, “People judge a product based on the way it smells.  If it smells good, we perceive it as good” (Moran).  This could be for anything from food, a type of perfume, an air freshener, or even the scent of a car. 

Hirsch states that some odors are so irritating that they cause a trigeminal stimulation, the same kind that makes chili peppers ‘“hot”’ or mints ‘“cool”’ in the mouth.  Trigeminal stimulation releases adrenaline, leading to a tense and angry state.  In the presence of bad odors, people tend to be more aggressive.  This is how the sense of smell works. (Moran)

 Hirsch also states that “there are days when there are more bad odors in air pollution, people are driving more aggressively and they tend to get in more accidents” (Moran).   I found this research particularly interesting.  I know that I have experienced random incidents of road rage when I am normally a pretty calm driver.  In his studies, Dr. Alan Hirsch shows that our sense of smell affects most of the things that we do in our everyday lives.  Especially affecting things we do not realize such as our mood, emotions, and how we react to different situations.  Smell is a very mysterious sense in how it affects people, however, it is very necessary for the way of life.

Everyone and everything has its own unique scent.  A person’s odor is as individual as a fingerprint (Ackerman 23).  I have especially noticed this with houses.  My friend’s homes each have their own exclusive scent; causing me to carry the odor whenever I leave their house.  Diane Ackerman describes this well in A Natural History of the Senses: “meat eaters smell different from vegetarians, children smell different from adults, smokers smell different from nonsmokers; other individuals smell different because of heredity factors, health, occupation, diet, medication, emotional state, and even mood” (Ackerman 23).

The sense of smell also can affect the relationship between a man and woman.  Robert Henkin, from the Center for Sensory Disorders at Georgetown University, had studies done that suggested that about a quarter of people with smell disorders find that their sex drive disappears; this is especially prone to women more than men (Ackerman 43).    For example, according to Ackerman, “when a woman’s man is away, or her lover dies, a grief-stricken woman goes to his closet and takes out a shirt or bathrobe, presses it to her face, and is overwhelmed by how she feels for him” (Ackerman 43).  This shows how much we as humans rely on the sense of smell.

One thing I personally love about the sense of smell is how you can distinguish between sweet summer days, a cool fall day with the smell of burning leaves, and the smell of the humidity on a rainy day.   

Helen Keller wrote that the sense of smell has told me of a coming storm hours before there was any sign of it visible.  I notice first a throb of expectancy, a slight quiver, a concentration in my nostrils.  As the storm draws near my nostrils dilate, the better to receive the flood of earth odors which seem to multiply and extend, until I feel the splash of rain against my cheek.  As the tempest departs, receding farther and farther, the odors fade, become fainter and fainter, and die away beyond the bar of space. (Ackerman 44)

I also found it interesting that perfume smells strongest right before a storm.   According to Diane Ackerman, “This is partly due to the fact that moisture increases our sense of smell and because the low pressure makes a fluid as volatile as perfume spread even faster” (Ackerman 44).

By a long shot, smell is our most powerful and necessary sense.  We use it for more things than we can imagine and would be at a loss without it in our lives.  This is not just a matter of opinion but also a proven fact from researchers.  As Helen Keller stated, “Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived “(Ackerman 4).