Chapter One - Memory Of Smell

"The fact that our intelligence is not the subtlest, most powerful, most appropriate instrument for grasping the truth is only one reason the more for beginning with the intelligence, and not with an unconscious intuition, a ready-made faith in presentiments. It is life that, little by little, case by case, enables us to observe that what is most important to our hearts or to our minds is taught us not by reasoning but by other powers. And then it is the intelligence itself which, acknowledging their superiority, abdicates to them through reasoning and consents to become their collaborator and their servant. Experimental faith."

      -Marcel Proust, The Fugitive

 

 

 

We come into the world equipped with several sensory systems that function to tell us about the world we're living in. Vision, hearing, touch, proprioception taste, and smell all contribute to making sense of our environment. If you try to remember things that you have visually perceived -- things you've seen -- you can easily call a visual image to mind. I can remember the front door to my house or the roses blooming in the garden. Something similar happens with sound. It is easy to call up a tune in your head. But smell is different. Try to remember your favorite perfume or cologne -- the smell of fresh baked bread just pulled from the oven -- or any smell. This chapter on the memory of smell considers how smell is different from all the other senses.