Experiencing places through the sense of smell

                                           Experiencing places through the sense of smell

 This is a book that I recently read and really enjoyed. It’s autors Anna Barbara and Anthony Perliss talk about the idea of the sense of smell being the most powerful of all senses. “ Of the five senses, the sense of smell is the one that best renders the idea of immortality” Salvador Dali.  I believe that when he said this he was giving credit to the fact that from all senses smell is the one that can transport us to a different moment or time thru our memory.  I am sure that anyone has experience that when they smell a familiar odor their mind automatically brings them to a specific person or place visited. The reason is that this sense develops the capacity of associating experience abroad with an odor and linking odors to the history of cities over centuries. For example, by just smelling a spice that we smelled on a trip to India we travel back and remember all the vacation.

             Have you ever seen those cleaning products advertising where they place someone with their eyes covered in a very dirty place but smelling clean and fresh and ask them to describe where they think they are? Of course they will answer they are in a lavender field but this is not just for benefiting the publicity, it is actually their real experience. This is because olfaction makes the false seem true being more powerful that sight .