Bela Lugosi portrayed a perfumer named Dr. Carruthers in the film The Devil Bat (1940). There's another Carruthers, a real one, with a slightly different spelling of the same last name. Does one inform the other?
Wallace Hume Carothers (April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor, and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon.
Carothers' research into cyclic compounds led to the discovery of Astrotone (1934), aka ethylene brassylate, a synthetic macrocyclic musk used in perfumes. It smells powdery, sweet, floral, ambrette-like, woody and musky.
Consider the image that accompanies this post. One man is an actor pretending to be a scientist bent on corporate revenge with deadly aftershave, the other is a scientist performing his job.
Did the accomplishments of Dr. William Hume Carothers inspire story writer George Bricker and screenwriter John Thomas Neville to use the chemist's last name for Lugosi's character in The Devil Bat?
The discovery of Astrotone and year The Devil Bat was released are only six years apart. Whether it's probable deserves further investigation with respect to the history of perfume plots in film.
Notes & Curiosities:
Curious about industrial fragrance chemistry? This research paper is for you:
David, O., & Doro, F. (2023). Industrial Fragrance Chemistry: A Brief Historical Perspective. European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 26(44). https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202300900
To learn more about reading science papers, visit the March 3, 2025 post, and scroll down to the "Notes & Curiosities" section. You'll find helpful tools and a method I created for use at lectures called "Clouseau It!"
Image of Grey-Crowned Cranes by Frankie from Germany via Pixabay
Part I: The Article
A novel line of seven perfumes is created by an eclectic perfumer. Each is named “smell” in a non-English language. The olfactive noun appears in calligraphic script on each of the labels with a foreshadowing twist. Ingredients in the formula are procured from the country of origin where the language on the bottle is spoken.
Phonetic transcriptions of “smell” appear in English below a western or non-western word for “smell” on each bottle. This inspires a mélange of phonetic murmurations whenever more than one customer engages with an interactive retail display featuring testers and perfume blotters. Ensuing conversations are convivial and attract curious onlookers.
The effect is choreographed by design.
The perfumer considers the challenge of learning a new language from his own experience: “Mouthing a new language in an adopted country is akin to chewing sinewy meat while attempting to avoid notice. In contrast, the sound of customers articulating phonetic translations at the counter is musical, playful and guileless."
The MakeSense line of international “smell” perfumes is built on aromatic materials associated with a country’s landscape and culture. MakeSense has polarizing plans for the next iteration of scents, which arrive at counter on October 31st. The olfactive theme is "disgust and avoidance", and evocative of scent-shunning encounters.
The perfumer relates the concept in a different light: “Focusing on liking or not liking a smell is about as valuable as arguing about which end of a magnet is more desirable. Opposite poles attract and similar poles repel. This defines a magnet's essence, its potential, its character. And in perfumery, as in life, character is everything.”
Part II: Fictive Truth
Belle Helaine Advertisement for Un Air Enbaumeé Rigaud Perfume, La Rire no. 88, Oct 9, 1920
Duchamp and Perec don't engage in writing in the afterlife; they play with magnetic fields and randomly break glass in the homes of charlatans that charge money to communicate with the dead. (For the record, the racket made by the invisible Oulipo duo when they're engaged in spirited shenanigans reinforces a charlatan's delusion of power with respect to affecting the beyond. Within three months, they beg to be fitted with a straitjacket.)
Once in a while, after a glorious mischief binge, the pair are permitted to smell something that each of them misses from their days of earthly existence. Perec misses the scent of a cigarette from a freshly opened pack of Galoises, and the infrathin of its trace in his mouth after smoking. This, despite the fact that smoking cigarettes resulted in an irrevocable trip to a columbarium at Pére Lechaise Cemetery at the age of 45, which offers an extended, albeit ironic, infrathin.
As for Duchamp, he misses the smell of sunlight streaming through a window as it warmed a spot on the wooden floor of his apartment at 33 West 67th Street in New York City, resurrecting the aroma of a bottle of tawny port that the previous owner spilled on the floor a year before Duchamp moved in, which in turn, made Duchamp want to drink the floor on several occasions. Whenever the urge became too strong, he was deterred by a pair of hangry skittering cockroaches.
Part III: Wine Pairing Recommendation
Glass Petal Smoke asked sommelier Jaime Smith to recommend a wine that best complements this post. (No offense to the spirit of Marcel Duchamp and his nostalgia for the sun-warmed residue of spilled port emanating from a wooden floor.) Smith, whose superpower is smell-color synesthesia, chose Pietradolci Archineri Etna Bianco DOC as an accompaniment to this post. The wine's flavor profile varies from one vintage to the next. Fruity, herbal, floral, mineral and savory notes are common. The profile grows more complex as the wine ages (it has an aging potential of 15 years). BTW: Empson & Company offers a more detailed tech sheet here.
Interview with scientist Jonas Olofsson, author of The Forgotten Sense
There are many things one can say about The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell—and the Extraordinary Power of the Nose by Jonas Olofsson. Exemplary is the first word that comes to mind as books written by academics don't always resonate with the public; no matter how remotely curious readers are about a particular subject, or how devoted the author is to sharing the latest information about a subject they deeply care about that resonates with others.
Olofsson cares about the sense of smell and how smell loss has and continues to have an effect on patients who didn't find the support they needed when COVID-19 anosmia took hold in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. It's why he wrote the book, but there's more. Smell loss isn't new, but the number of people suffering from anosmia (whether they've recovered or not) is more widely acknowledged due to the pandemic and ensuing variants. It's a silver lining.
This silver lining is entwined with the fact that Olofsson has interest and compassion in amounts that exceed the boundaries of his native Sweden. This is reflected in the book's contents and the informed, conversational tone of the book, which draws the reader in like a good friend. The author bridges research (psychology, neurology and other disciplines) while bringing the reader up to date with regard to what is known about the sense of smell as it relates to health, quality of life and society.
I purchased The Forgotten Sense shortly after it was released in January 2025 (and plan on reading it again after I finish Sun City by Tove Jansson). The reason for the re-read is that books like The Forgotten Sense are rare when it comes to non-fiction books about the sense of smell, and that's as good a reason as any to recommend it on Glass Petal Smoke. Attendees at Smell & Tell: Get Inside Your Olfactory Mind will learn more about The Forgotten Sense at the Ann Arbor District Library on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, where I'll also introduce an analog smelling device called the Smell Rolodex. Ah, smell life...
Notes & Curiosities:
I discovered the video that accompanies this post after finishing The Forgotten Sense. It's a great way to get acquainted with the author, his research and the book. To learn more about Jonas Olofsson's research, visit Google Scholarand the website for the Sensory Cognition Interactive Laboratory, where Olofsson is Principal Investigator.
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau via Encyclopedia Britannica
An informal, but effective approach to reading articles in scientific journals is a little something I cooked up called Clouseau It!, an homage to Peter Sellers in his role as Inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther films. Apply the following seven steps once you're comfortable reading articles in scientific journals:
Step 1: Investigate the Paper
Step 2: Interrogate the Study
Step 3: Treat the Paper Like a Suspect
Step 4: Question the Method Used by Researchers
Step 5: Confirm the Motives Based on Funding
(Conflict of Interest)
Step 6: Evaluate the Outcome in Relationship to the
The orange flavor of Tic Tac Orange Mints unfolds like the experience of eating an orange out of hand. Flavor chemists want you to think of the real thing even if the candy doesn't have the same form factor as orange fruit. The result? Candy plays pretend, and our brain consciously plays right along with it because candy tastes good, inspires memories and is fun to eat.
Mass-produced candy ensures a specific eating experience every time and that's by design. Candy is a form of comfort and reward across cultures. When you eat candy, you expect it to taste exactly like you remember it. The everyday chaos of adult life is sublimated by candy's constancy. Add a few childhood memories and it's easy to get hooked on candy when you’re decades past being a kid.
The flavor chemistry in Tic Tac Orange Mintsis an industry secret, but if you read the ingredient list you can do a bit of flavor sleuthing and decode what you sense, but can't see. Orange Tic Tacs contain: sugar, maltodextrin, tartaric acid, natural and artificial flavors, rice starch, gum arabic, magnesium stearate, ascorbic acid, Yellow 6 and carnauba wax. So, what does this mean? A sweet and sour profile at a quick glance, but there's more.
The first ingredient is sugar (sucrose) and that means sugar is used in the greatest quantity compared to ingredients that follow it on the ingredient list. Sugar is followed by maltodextrin, a polysaccharide that improves texture, taste and shelf life. Maltodextrin isn't sweet on its own. Amylase, an enzyme found in saliva, breaks down maltodextrin, which is absorbed by the body as glucose.
The next ingredient, tartaric acid, is found in grapes, bananas, tamarind, citrus fruits and wine. Tartaric acid's salt is potassium bitartrate, aka cream of tartar, which can be mixed with sodium bicarbonate to make baking powder. Congratulations! You've entered the realm of food science by investigating a candy ingredient list.
Pour yourself a glass of wine and congratulate yourself as you toast the wonders of tartaric acid! You've graduated from Sweet Tarts, Fun Dip and Smarties Candy Necklaces, all of which include a combination of malic acid and tartaric acid to create delightful puckering effects that turned you into a candy lover in the first place.
Natural and artificial flavors cited in the ingredient list for Tic Tac Orange Mintsare just that. Specific molecular constituents used to shape the candy's unique taste and flavor are akin to a family recipe for pasta sauce. Family members who know the recipe pass it down from one generation to the next. In the food industry, proprietary knowledge and trade secrets are protected by legal and binding non-disclosure agreements. You don’t share them with anyone (it’s a “take-it-to-the-grave” kind of thing).
Ingredients used to flavor candy are natural, "nature-identical", and/or synthetic. Chemical compounds and single molecules that scream "oranges" and those that support the chemistry of orange flavor define a Tic Tac "orange" experience. An example of a supporting ingredient in orange flavor would be a material with a zesty green aroma associated with orange peel.
Gum arabic is ubiquitous as far as food applications go. It’s added to confectionary glazes and is also used as a probiotic. Rice starch smoothes the surface of candy coatings and has additional applications as well. Magnesium stearate, on the other hand, prevents ingredients from sticking to mechanical equipment in the manufacturing process. It's commonly used as a lubricant for tablets.
Ascorbic acid is also on the Tic Tac Orange Mintsingredient list. You may recognize it if you've read the ingredients label on a bottle of vitamins because ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C. This doesn't mean that Tic Tac Orange Mints are vitamins, so you can't use this fact to make candy guilt go away or use Tic Tac Orange Mints to raise Linus Pauling from the dead.
Yellow 6 is also known as "sunset yellow" in the language of artificial food colors. Artificial colors are shelf stable (they don't lose their color quickly over time and under the proper storing conditions). This could change as companies like Kalsec, which specializes in natural food color technology, offer stable natural color alternatives.
It's interesting to note that Orange Tic Tac Mints sold outside the U.S. are colorless (they're white) due to rules and regulations related to artificial food coloring. In Canada, for instance, Tic Tac Orange Mints are packed in a plastic container that's tinted orange to signal flavor expectations in the absence of Yellow 6 food coloring.
Carnauba wax (Copernicia cerifera) is the last ingredient in Orange Tic Tac Mints and it's typically used as a coating or glazing ingredient. It's also one of the first ingredients you'll encounter in a store-bought orange (before you get to the cash register where Tic Tacs galoreare staring you in the face). Carnauba wax is used in a proprietary form of artificial fruit wax that coats and protects fruit that's packaged and shipped to grocery stores.
Now that you know the story behind the ingredients in Orange Tic Tac Mints, it's time to do a little sensory evaluation on your own. The experience will tell you a lot about what flavorists do without saying a word. To get the most out of this or any other tasting exercise, make sure you take your time.
If you do the exercise quickly, you'll miss important flavor transitions that define signature candy tasting experiences. Bear in mind that flavor is defined as the intersection between taste and smell. If you are rushing or distracted, you risk having a one-dimensional experience that’s mostly focused on taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory).
Go somewhere where you can taste the candy without distraction. The experience goes beyond "sweet, sour, done, now give me another one". Pop a single orange Tic Tac in your mouth and savor it, noticing the sequence of sensations from beginning to end. Do this twice. Once for the ah-ha moment(s) and a second time to embed the experience in your brain as a reference point for future candy tastings. Writing down sensory impressions after the second tasting is a good idea.
Sensory evaluation requires focusing on sensations and memories inspired by the tasting experience. Imagine what chemistry class would’ve been like if sensory evaluation exercises were included in the curriculum. You wouldn't be reading this. You'd be a flavorist working at a lab bench creating flavors for candy.
Mindfully tasting Tic Tac Orange Mints is akin to a candy-version of an orange from a flavor perspective. A sense of ephemerality sets in when you’re finished, but you can always taste another candy. Is eating orange fruit better than eating candy? Yes, but if you’re hankering for the perfect portion-controlled sweet, candy allows you to connect with flavor and memories, and there’s nothing wrong with that if you indulge in moderation.
Notes & Curiosities:
The acid in citrus fruit causes the mouth to water. The same response occurs when
you eat something that smells appetizing and tastes delicious. Common descriptors
for orange fruit flavor are: acidic, citrusy, fragrant, fruity, sweet, tangy and zesty
Tic Tac Orange Mints were launched by Ferrero in 1974. The original Tic Tac mint was called "Refreshing Mints" in 1969 and was changed to "Tic Tac Fresh Mint" in 1970.
Tic Tacs have nothing to do with the paper and pencil game called tic-tac-toe that's played in a three-by-three grid with "x" and "o" marks. The sound made by the candy as it rattles in the container inspired Tic Tac's onomatopoetic name.
There is no mint flavor in Tic Tac Orange Mints (though there's a green nuance that is more leafy than minty that shows up in the first half of the tasting experience). The term “mint” is used as an indicator of something a person eats for refreshment and/or mint-flavored mints.
Mindfully eating Tic Tac Orange Mints can be included in chemistry curriculum so that students grow up to be adults with a métier in flavor science. More information on becoming a flavorist (and/or flavor chemist) is available from the Society of Flavor Chemists.
If you're curious about the flavor industry read The Flavor Industry: From 1945-1995. This link takes you to the PDF download on the Society of Flavor Chemists website. The publication was put together by the American Sources Association on behalf of the Society of Flavor Chemists.
"It’s through sound that we enter the works, and that we travel across time." —Pascale Bodet, critic and filmmaker, on The Seventh Walk (Saatvin Sair) a film by Amit Dutta (2013)
Assignment.
Substitute another sense in place of “sound”.
Deduct.
Deduce.
Consider the counterintuitive.
For this is a math of the senses.
Begin with the end in mind, the end of the quote.
Traveling across time a is metaphor for recollecting.
And smell is memory's sense.
Ah, but who and what shapes memories?
To answer this you become a fortune teller.
A teller of tales.
Are you ready?
Let's begin.
Ask your family, your friends, the ancestors, the deity.
The artists, plants, insects, animals.
Sun, moon, stars, the planets.
The movement of molecules and the diasporic.
The inhalations and exhalations of everyday life.
What is dream, what is truth?
Paradox.
The eyes are open and shut for both.
Smell, however, is always open.
From the first breath to the last.
Return to the original question.
Sound closes shop at our ending.
Just before the breath stops.
A mortal proof.
Derive conclusion accordingly.
Notes & Curiosities:
Poem to be read out loud while smelling a 3% dilution of mitti attar during the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse. Listen if you wish to see. Smell if you wish to remember.
Introductory quote at the start of "A Math of the Senses" is from an article titled "In the Ship of Amit Dutta" on The Seventh Art, a blog by film critic and translator Srikanth Srinivasan.
Our story begins and nearly ends for a cat, introducing us to its peculiar owner and an unsavory trick he played on the feline with the express purpose of ending its life. Consider the following four points before engaging with the tale:
№ 1: Cats. They’re an interesting subject because they’re cats. And they let you know it.
№ 2: People. Always hiding behind the mask of personality. Some are more convincing than others.
№ 3: Writers. They’re observant and take notes. Make acquaintance with one and you may appear as a character in one of their stories.
№ 4: Doctors. Most are guided by the Hippocratic Oath. Others are gilded by reputation, clever accountants and club memberships.
“The Sense of Smell in Cats” appeared in the science journal Nature a little over 90 years ago. The one-paragraph letter to the editor was written by F.W. Edridge-Green of 99 Walm Lane, Willesden Greene, London N. W. 2. It was dated September 13, 1932 and published in the October 1, 1932 edition of the publication. The tone is expert, detached and gothic.
I HAD a favourite cat which was having fits and becoming dangerous, so, to destroy it as painlessly as possible, I inserted several grains of morphia in the centre of a piece of foie gras which was cut in two, great care being taken that no morphia was split on the outside. The cat on being shown the foie gras expressed in every way its eagerness for it, but when it got within three feet of the foie gras, turned round and looked at me with intense astonishment, and then after another sniff walked away, though previously it had always worried for a small piece. The special point is that the cat could detect something dangerous though the strong smell of the foie gras, though morphia, even in considerable quantities, has to most persons only a faint odour.
Reading this leaves little doubt that the physician’s house became haunted when he and his cat were no longer there. Imagine the paws of generations of cats that resided in the house, sensitized to dormant energy emanating from the kitchen floor. When perceived, a sensation accompanied by the aroma of foie gras forebodes the appearance of a feline apparition hungry for a taste of its master’s liver. Cats sense the specter with their whiskers, their owners attuned to its icy plaintive yowls. Confabulation, I know, but it paints the picture best.
Frederick William Edridge-Green (1863-1953) was a physician and "expert" on color perception. The ophthalmologist, who grossly underestimated the olfactory perception of his cat (a species that is a natural-born hunter) wrote on the subject of sight, color blindness and memory. Books published in his area of specialty are available, in addition to a journal article in which the esteem with which he held himself and his work weren’t reciprocated (this was delivered with academic brevity and evisceration in the concluding sentence).
Concluding paragraph in the British Journal of Ophthalmology by J. Herbert Parsons, August 1920. Ibse dixit refers to an unproven assertion.
After his death in 1953, Dr. Edridge-Green’s portrait was donated to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in London. The painting is currently available as ready-made wall art for anyone with a taste for it.
Artist Frederic Dudley Walenn (1869-1933) painted Dr. Edridge-Green’s portrait. In it, the physician sports a lupine beard that completely obscures his mouth, jaw and neck. It would be uncouth to say it invokes an invitation to fleas, but that can’t be helped.
Image of Dr. Edridge-Green via The Royal College Surgeons of England
Consider the confusion a master’s nearly unreadable face wrought upon his cat over the years. The portrait resembles a man about to go through “the change” and emerge as a werewolf. Wouldn't you, dear reader, at your most myopic, have fits and become dangerous if you had to live with the agony of looking at an obfuscated face by day, suffering the consequences in your sleep at night? A mouthless presence of a face in a sea of hair leaving only the eyes to speak?
Walenn’s body of work is respected and pleasing. Perhaps the artist had a petulant sitter before him who was overly concerned with posterity, demanding unreasonable revisions to his portrait, the painter giving in and painting the doctor’s mouth shut with his paint brush. The portrait, whatever one thinks of it, was bequeathed to the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in England by Edridge-Green. It is absent from their online collection.
Via the National Institute of Health, National Library of Medicine
An interesting black and white photograph of the ophthalmologist paints a different picture in shadow and light. His bearded face is less consumed by facial hair, ruling out hypertrichosis as a diagnosis inspired by Walenn's oil portrait. The contrasting accent of dyed black hair behind a flourish of gray paints a different picture, a hat on his knee taking prominence at the forefront of the composition. The doctor is older here and appears comfortable with himself. A kitten would fit quite nicely in this picture, but that would be softening the rough edges of Edridge-Green's character to a fault.
Consider the possibility that Edridge-Green’s cat no longer served as an emotional surrogate, becoming “the other” in the eyes of its owner due to bad behavior or illness (a mean disposition or epilepsy). The doctor's story as reported in Nature seems more like confabulation than truth, a weak attempt at erudition (acknowledging his cat's better-than-expected sense of smell). Fact: the doctor failed to entice his beloved cat to its death with morphine-laced foie gras. This is not material for compassion or bragging rights. It smacks of pathology, narcissism and a faltering G-d complex.
The Latest Application in Scientific Principals by Louis Wain
In closing, the following was filed under the category "Rubbish Colleagues, 1900 RR/15/38" on the Royal Society's website. The facts and categorization reveal much about Edridge-Green’s character:
Among the treasure trove of referee reports is one by physicist Shelford Bidwell (inventor of a precursor to the fax machine) about a paper on 'The evolution of the colour sense' by Frederick William Edridge-Green in 1900. Bidwell describes the author as ‘a crank’, and the paper as not only plagiarized but also ‘rubbish of so rank a character that no competent person could possibly take any other view of it’:
"Having long ago recognised in him all the well-known characteristics of a 'crank', I have carefully avoided entering into any discussion with him or expressing any opinion as to his views."
He then goes on to suggest that if the Society takes issue with ‘this admission of bias’ they should refer the paper to someone else. Edridge-Green’s tests for colour blindness were nonetheless adopted by the Royal Navy.
The report by referee Shelford Bidwell, including the summary, reveal a lack of professionalism and ethics on the part of Dr. Edridge-Green. It was issued 32 years before the doctor wrote to Nature about the alleged cat episode. F.W. Edridge-Green died on April 17, 1953. His obituary in the British Journal of Ophthalmology refers to the doctor as “a controversialist” whose conclusions sometimes lacked the basis of fact. There is no mention of family left behind in Edridge-Green’s obituary. Not even a cat.
Notes, Curiosities & Thanks:
Morphia is an archaic term for morphine. It's also the first name of the historical queen consort of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, Morphia of Melitene, who was of Armenian descent.
Cats are better smellers than humans. This was true in Dr. Edridge-Green’s time, when science knew less about feline and human olfaction. Cats have larger olfactory epithelium (membranous tissue located in the nasal cavity that is the peripheral organ for the sense of smell) and more olfactory receptors (transmitters of smells) than humans. Cats also possess a vomeronasal organ (aka Jacobsen’s organ) that affects sexual, feeding and social behaviors. The role of the vomeronasal organ in humans is unknown and considered vestigial (translation: under-researched).
The Royal Society was formerly known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. It's the United Kingdom's version of The National Academies of Sciences in the United States.
Maréchal Niel Roses by Henri Fantin Latour(1883) The flowers have a strong raspberry, tea and violet scent.
Dr. F.W. Edridge-Green married Minnie Hicks on April 28, 1893. An excerpt from the wedding announcement in the Middlesex Courier says: "...it is evident that Dr. Edridge-Green is a gentleman of considerable attainments. The bride, Miss Minnie Hicks, second daughter of Dr. F.R. Hicks, of Hendon Grove, is as distinguished socially and for her personal charms as Dr. Edridge-Green is for his scientific attainments...Inside the church looked very pretty, the altar being decorated with white flowers and the pews themselves gay with posies and the delicate scent of the Maréchal Niel rose being most notable."
The Edridge-Green family included two sons. Their first son, Henry Allen Edridge-Green, was born on July 9, 1894. Henry died of wounds acquired at the age of 24 on November 7, 1918, while serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during WWI. Frederick Nigel Edridge-Green, the couple's second son, was born on June 23, 1897. He died on May 25, 1898, when he was less than a year old. Minnie Edridge-Green died on February 14, 1901, after seven years of marriage and the loss of her youngest child. She was 30 years old when she died on Valentine's Day.
Maréchal Niel rose was a synthetic rose base used to make Arpège perfume by Lanvin, which was introduced in 1927. Perfumers Paul Vacher and Andre Fraysse collaborated on the perfume's creation. Fraterworks offers a modern version of the rose base for use in perfume formulas on their website. Bon voila.
Thanks go out to Wendy Warner, who provided assistance with ancestry research related to Dr. F. W. Edridge-Greene.
This post is dedicated to Judith Emlyn Johnson, Professor Emerita of English Literature and Women's Studies at the University at Albany in New York State. Her "Gothic Horror and Fiction" class was one of my favorites. Johnson is a fiction writer, poet, and spoken word artist.
“If I’m as normal as I think I am, we’re all a bunch of weirdos.”—Joe Brainard, artist, poet and writer
I finished reading a research paper that included children's evaluations of 17 hedonic scents. The authors, 28 in number, included the acronym "WEIRD" as a phenotype (an individual's observable traits) vs. a genotype (genetic constitution). If you're reading this, chances are you're WEIRD, but not in the way that you think.
WEIRD as referenced in the 2022 study sounds a little sci-fi when extracted, but it explains a few things when considered in context:
...children from urban areas of the WEIRD world (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) were examined. In such cultures, the olfactory and dietary experience of children may be convergent (e.g. consumption of similar products, similar perfumes worn) and similarly influence chemosensory perception.
The term WEIRD was called out in 2010 by the American Psychology Association. The danger, according to the APA, occurs if focusing on WEIRD citizenry in a study generalizes results to a global population inclusive of the non-WEIRD to whom the results don’t apply. Translation? Exclusion by inclusion.
So, there you have it. If you're reading this, you might live in a WEIRD society as a WEIRD citizen. Define yourself as a flavor and fragrance enthusiast that’s not part of the WEIRD cohort or frankly don’t give a damn? Congratulations! You’ve been touched by an invisible magic wand that makes you "you". This quality brought you here in the first place. That makes you the best kind of weird there is.
Window by Jane Freilicher (2009). There's a sublime quality to the painting, including two figures drawn to the aroma of flowers.
Notes/Further Reading:
The odorants used in "Hedonic Perception of Odors in Children Aged 5 to 8 Years is Similar Across 18 Countries: Preliminary Data" include: apple, banana, cheese, butter, chocolate, biscuit, coffee, cut grass, fish, flower, honey, lemon, onion, orange, peach, strawberry and tomato. Countries categorized as WEIRD in the study are: Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.
Glass Petal Smoke highly recommends The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett. Joe Brainard's style of memoir writing in the "I Remember" chapter poetically strings together everyday snippets of memory. Warning: Side effects include repeated re-reading of the "I Remember" chapter, uncontrolled urges to dog-ear pages in the book resulting in lilliputian origami, and finding Marcel Proust's madeleine less than compelling.
Boise State University has a sensible response to the WEIRD acronym as it applies to WEIRD societies and non-WEIRD societies. It's a fair and balanced response to a homonymic academic acronym.
This story was not designed to interfere with machine learning programs, though it would be great fun if the “weird” WEIRD stumped more than a handful of programs. That, my friends, would be art.
How we relate to the smell of a perfume can change over time.
I purchased Myrrh Casati by Mona di Orio in 2014. There was something about it I couldn't relate to, which is why it was relegated to the back shelf in a fragrance storage closet. After reading mixed fragrance reviews, the only tangible sentiment I had for the luxury perfume was buyer’s remorse. Ten years later, the smell of Myrrh Casati taught me a lesson.
The black box containing the perfume was adjacent to a box of vintage Indian sandalwood oils stored in a light-proof container. The juxtaposition of two objects, one rejected the other beloved, prompted a question. Would ten years of aging shed light on the way Myrrh Casati expresses its volatile message? It smelled like a naïve chiaroscuro ode in 2014; all effort, no shadow, no light.
Disappearing top notes, a typical occurrence in collectors' vintage perfumes, are less likely to alter the character of a well-composed fragrance kept out of heat and light. Myrrh Casati spent ten years in a box. The potential for change, even synergy, was worth seeking. I considered how the bottle of perfumereappeared when I wasn't looking for it and took it as a sign. I sprayed the perfume on my wrists and gave it time to bloom.
The opening of the fragrance was familiar. I detected the bitter leather tang of myrrh, its medicinal edge mellowed by time and sweeter materials in the formula. I continued to focus on the perfume’s character in the way one appreciates a well-composed painting, photograph or glass of wine. It wasn't long before I was catapulted into remembering a specific smell from the past.
Myrrh Casati reminded me of the time I discovered an exquisite aroma produced by a combination of Cretan labdanum, Siam benzoin, Omani frankincense and Yemeni myrrh resins on a temperature-controlled incense heater. The perfume touched the boundaries of the incense blend in memory. This connection, from past to present and back again, changed the way I relate to the perfume today.
A temperature-controlled incense heater offers a gift that's hard to forget once you've experienced it. The underside of its ceramic lid acquires a patina of smells over time. Each incense heating session creates an effect that paves the way for the next session’s fragrant mark. Smelling the lid after it's cooled down is akin to dropping a needle on a record you need to hear again and again, so you can hold on to the feelings and meaning it inspires.
Painting of Luisa Casati by Joseph Paget-Frederics
My reference points for myrrh prior to owning an incense incense heater included: the smell of myrrh on incense charcoal (combustion), reading research papers and books, perfumery training at Givaudan and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), aromatic scentscapes at Catholic and Orthodox churches in New York City, and disappointing perfumes that claimed myrrh and buried it in the formula (sans the fragrant pomp of pharaonic burial). Exploration across Commiphora species generates new sensations for my nose.
There are times when a person can't relate to things they haven’t experienced or aren’t ready to receive. This may have been the case in my initial evaluation of Myrrh Casati by Mona di Orio. Studying aromatic plant resins used as incense allowed me to broaden my olfactory palette and further develop expertise beyond perfumery training. This informed a second attempt to understand Myrrh Casati ten years later. Thankfully, it was long enough for the perfume and me to come to terms with each other. Time changed both of us.
The Alchemist by David Teniers the Younger (1743-45)
Notes & Curiosities:
If there’s anything that perfumery has taught me, it’s the reality of impermanence in the form of discontinued fragrances. Myrrh Casati is, for the time being, gone. The presence of absence makes room for something new in myrrh-themed perfumes.
Perfumer Mona di Orio trained with legendary nez Edmond Roudnitska before striking out on her own. Her work was brilliant.
The first perfume released after her untimely death in 2011 was created by another perfumer in 2014. Myrrh Casati was disappointing, something that was just "there". Perhaps we needed to hear the sound of Mona's olfactory voice tickling our skin and our senses. It's not what we received, whether by objective evaluation or expectations as admirers of her work. Mona's formulas had multiple experiences living inside of them; a matryoshka of nose surprises.
Access to quality resins is important. Be sure to seek out a knowledgeable vendors run by people that support fair trade and sustainable harvesting. In my experience, Dan Riegler of Apothecary’s Garden in Canada is one of these people. (I use his materials at home and in the classroom.) Mermade Magickal Arts sells aromatic resins, roots, wood and artisan unique incense blends you won't find anywhere else. Owner Katlyn Breene's incense offerings are often reviewed at Olfactory Rescue Service, a website dedicated to incense. (Breene introduced me to a White Lotus incense heater in 2020 that's still going strong. I'm rather fond of her Luthier incense blend.)
Exquisite incense from Mermade Magickal Arts by Katlyn Breene
Ingredients in Myrrh Casati include, but may not be limited to: Peruvian pink pepper, Guatemalan cardamom, saffron, licorice, Siam benzoin, Somalian myrrh, Somalian frankincense, Indonesian patchouli, Indian cypriol (nagarmotha), and Paraguay guaiac wood. The smell of Spanish labdanum, a key ingredient in the "amber" category of perfumery that applies to Myrrh Casati,can also be smelled.
Patchouli, vetiver and sandalwood are materials that age beautifully over time. Interestingly, all three were used in the formula for Crêpe de Chine by F. Millot (1925), a vintage floral chypre perfume. Check out Bo Jensen's chemistry explanation under Vetiver here. You can look up ingredients on the Essential Oils page, find out what they smell like, and learn cool things about scent chemistry.
December 31, 2023 marks the end of Odeuropa's research grant, which is focused on olfactory heritage. The scope of their work and what they're delivering for public consumption is a priceless foundation for future scholarship on tangible and intangible olfactory heritage.
Dr. William Tullett is in charge of developing the Encyclopaedia of European Olfactory Heritage – a new web-resource that will be the first of its kind – that will catalogue and describe the smells, odorous spaces, feelings about scent, and key noses of the European past.
This is one of many Odeuropa initiatives informed by their mission; there's also a book.
Smell and the Past: Noses, Archives and Narratives by Dr. William Tullett is available as a free download on the publisher’s website. It’s informed by his work on the Odeuropa project. [Tullett, W. (2023). Smell and the Past: Noses, Archives, Narratives. London,: Bloomsbury Academic. https://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350371811.]
Notes:
Odeuropa’s latest newsletter is chock full of nose-worthy news. Get your nose in the late summer/early autumn edition here.
Odeuropa was awarded €2.8M from the EU Horizon 2020 programme for the project, “ODEUROPA: Negotiating Olfactory and Sensory Experiences in Cultural Heritage Practice and Research”.
Craft offers a lingua franca between cultures. It sits outside the developmental narrative, which is mostly about catching up with the West. There is much to learn about the value of the object in different cultures as a way of sustaining meaning across time and space. Embedded in the object is the deep time necessary to master techniques for giving expression to the language of materials. As the object travels from the workshop to the gallery and home, it nurtures the source of this creativity with the respect and honour that sustains it. —Garland magazine.
If you think academic-driven books and newsletters are boring, think again. You won't find lexical jargonese in Roode's work or in the pages of Garland, which has an authentic voice and mission that's arts, culture and craft-driven. (BTW: Roode is currently pursuing a PhD at Leiden University.)
Fans of NEZ: The Olfactory Magazine will relish the "Smell" edition of Garland, but it's not because Garland magazine is like NEZ. Garland is what NEZ could be on occasion if it wasn't shadowed by fragrance industry support and dusted in advertorial-style fingerprints.
Fragrance is a craft. Olfactory cultural heritage inclusive of non-Western scent traditions deserves attention—especially those that have been ignored, usurped or escaped commodification. We need to look into other traditions for a more balanced perspective.
Notes:
Garland magazine produces an annual compendium. Each compendium is named after a flower found in a garland. The 2023 "Rose" compendium will be available next year and include 2023's taste, smell, hearing and touch issues. Quarterly subscription information is available here.
You really need to think like a Vulcan when it comes to prognostication and AI. The future is unknown and as such is subject to fantasy, ideology and cow pies. This is especially true of the intersection of smell, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
Machines that analyze smells aren't new. The pairing of Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was demonstrated in 1955-56 by Dow scientists in Midland, Michigan. The technology, which is used to analyze individual components of complex mixtures in analytical chemistry labs, continues to evolve.
We'll explore eclectic smell terrain and collectively follow our nose to get a better understanding of how humans evaluate smells against the capacity of machines that analyze complex mixtures and their components.
The Smell and Tell series of art+science programming is led by Michelle Krell Kydd, a trained nose in flavors and fragrance who shares her passion for gastronomy, sensory evaluation and the perfume arts on Glass Petal Smoke. Smell & Tell builds community through interactions with flavor, fragrance and storytelling.
Notes:
Nose-forward reading for this Smell & Tell program:
Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin by Steffen Arctander is the go-to source for flavor and fragrance descriptions related to natural materials. Arctander described his book as "a one-volume dictionary form of [a] practical handbook", but Arctander's book is more than that; it's a dictionary of smells that accounts for a posthumous cult following among perfumers, flavorists, chefs and fragrance fans. So who was Steffen Arctander?
Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin was written to address needs that weren't met by existing trade publications of its time. Arctander was uniquely qualified to write the book as he was an authority on perfume and flavor chemistry, and travelled all over the globe in search of new scents and aromas. Steffen Arctander was a man of firsts. His accomplishments include teaching the first college course on perfume at Rutgers University in 1965. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin was inspired by the needs of students studying perfume and flavor chemistry. Arctander articulates this in the book's preface:
During three years of lecturing at the University Extension Division, the author became aware of the fact that the perfumery and flavor literature does not include any work that describes the odor and flavor of the raw materials from nature in everyday words. There is no recent or up-to-date handbook of raw materials suggesting the use of the materials, the replacement of one material for another, the proportional strength of flavor materials, etc. Furthermore, there was no up-to-date work which gave any practical indication of availability and present world production of these materials. Export figures are obviously not always indicative of the true production.
There's more to Steffen Arctander's history than admirers of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin know. An article in the January 4, 1970 edition of The Central New Jersey Home News states; "At the start of WWII he [Steffen Arctander] joined the British Intelligence Service and did underground work while continuing to live a normal life during working hours. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, but escaped and continued his intelligence work until the German surrender."
Roger Moore aka James Bond, 007
What kind of intelligence work did Steffen Arctander do? He was an instructor in high explosives and incendiary bombs for the British Intelligence Service. Steffen Arctander was a chemist, perfumer and man of intrigue on the right side of history. It's enough to make anyone read his dictionary of smells from cover to cover looking for clues related to Arctander's life off of the lab bench.
Anyone who worked in intelligence would be a natural fit for a secretive industry like flavors and fragrances. Arctander calls out the industry's hush-hush quality as fact in his book, "The perfume and flavor trade has been veiled and concealed for decades, if not for centuries." Perfume is a commodity subject to strict confidentiality. It still is, with one exception; the identity of perfumers is no longer hidden. This wasn't the case when Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin was written.
Today's fans of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origins are familiar with Steffen Arctander's body of work, but there's little in the way of media that gives us a sense of who he was as a living breathing human being. I did a little research and came across something I did not expect to find. On June 22, 1964 Steffen Arctander was a contestant on a game show called To Tell the Truth.
Arctander's appearance on To Tell the Truth was a surprising find, but it makes sense. His reputation in the industry was tied to stellar academic chops, so his appearance as a "perfume expert" wasn't a threat to industry confidentiality agreements. Steffen Arctander had the kind of cachet that gets a person invited to parties. It's easy to imagine someone inviting him to be a guest on a popular 1960s game show.
What did it take for Steffen Arctander to get "approval" from his employer to be on national television? Did producers of the show or one of the celebrity panelists know or hear about him? We may never know the answer to these questions, but we do know what questions were asked of Steffen Arctander on June 22, 1964 when he was a guest on To Tell the Truth.
The formula for To Tell the Truth is simple. Four celebrity panelists interview three contestants, two of whom are imposters. The host of the show moderates a conversation between panelists and contestants so the person who isn't an imposter can be identified. Questions informed by the identity of the true contestant enliven the conversation. There are 16 questions in this episode, but only 15 were answered. The panelists were Orson Bean, Kitty Carlisle, Tom Poston and Phyllis Newman.
Orson Bean asks: How many musk seeds would it take to make a jar of perfume? I mean, how do you crush those little things down? What do you do with them? Tell me about the citronella grass? Is that the same stuff you use to keep bugs away? Why does it suddenly smell good when you put it into perfume? Evening in Weinspar. That’s a perfume not too well known. Do you know which company makes it?
Kitty Carlisle inquires: Where does Attar of Roses come from? Where does ambergris come from? Can you tell me what happens in Grasse, in France? Can you tell me what flower has never been approximated in a perfume? Can you tell me what kind of a fixative creates the longevity of a perfume?
Tom Poston asks: What’s the origin of your name, Arctander? Is yours a United States Company? What is the largest...? [The query is cut as Poston is out of time.]
Phyllis Newman probes: What is your company? What are some of the brand names it makes? Who makes L'Interdit? Do you want to plug anybody? [One of the contestants would rather not say due to ethical concerns, which prompts Newman's interrogation.] Why ethical? It’s something that’s sold, you know, over the counter.
Listening to To Tell the Truth contestants attempt to convince celebrity panelists that they're the real Steffen Arctander is theater for perfume lovers and fragrance trivia buffs. His appearance on a game show offers something his book does not: a sing-song Danish accent that colors his speech, a reserved manner with a penchant for precision, and mischievous micro expressions when he answers questions about perfumery that are definitely tells.
Watching Steffen Arctander on a game show like To Tell the Truth is the closest fans of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin will get to experiencing Arctander's humanity. Though his earthly journey ended in 1982, he continues to answer our questions every time we consult his dictionary of smells. It's an incredible legacy.
Research Notes:
If you're an astrology aficionado you're probably not surprised to discover that Steffen Arctander, fragrance expert, man of intrigue and To Tell the Truth game show contestant was a Virgo (a man of nines, born in Denmark on September 9, 1919 who died in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 29, 1982). Virgo's characteristic qualities of curiosity, attention to detail, and keen powers of observation characterize his book. You can practically smell them.
The official biography for Steffen Arctander as read by host Bob Collyer on To Tell the Truth reads:
I, Steffen Arctander am an authority on perfume. My company supplies the basic essences to many of the great perfume houses both here and abroad. I travel all over the world in search of new scents and aromas. The musk seed from the West Indies, oakmoss from the Mediterranean, cognac oil from the Rhine and citronella grass from Indonesia. As a perfumer I can create a scent which will project a specific image whether it be sophisticated, innocent or mysterious. Next fall I will be teaching the only college course in the world on perfume.
Steffen Arctander was working for International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) when he appeared on To Tell the Truth. His work history includes the Colgate-Palmolive Company and a successful independent consultancy.
Steffen Arctander's brother was a Danish architect Philip Arctander (1916-1994) who is known for designing the Clam Chair (Muslingestol). Philip was Director of the Danish Building Research Institute from 1968 to 1981 and worked with the United Nations on initiatives to support affordable housing.
Decoding flavors and fragrances is my specialty. Writer, public speaker, sensorialist. Creating Smell & Tell and Taste & Tell events since 2011 (150+ events and counting). Art + Sci = My Oxygen. What about you? If the answer is yes, you've come to the right place. Oh, and no ads to get in the way of learning whilst gathering gleanings from the world of the senses.
#TedxUofM #WalkingSmellopedia
Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education
Han, Y., Kydd, M. K., Ward, J., & Tewari, A. (2026). Teaching Machine Olfaction in an Undergraduate Deep Learning Course: A Pilot Integrating Chemistry, Machine Learning, and Sensory Evaluation. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education 34 (3), 372-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2026.2665103
Michelle Krell Kydd lectures on the sense of taste and smell regularly. She developed Smell and Tell (2012) and Taste and Tell (2019) programing for the Ann Arbor District Library, which are ongoing.
Michelle also conducts Smell and Tell lectures at the University of Michigan and in the private sector.
Michelle Krell Kydd is a New York City native who moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in October 2011. She's given 150+ lectures to date.
Smell & Tell at AADL
The Smell & Tell series began at the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) in 2012, and continues to change the way people think and interact with the sense of smell. Smell and Tell's unique art + sci programming takes place monthly at the Ann Arbor District Library. Taste & Tell is a new branch on the Smell & Tell programming tree that's focused on food and drink. It was launched in June 2019.
Event Schedule
Ann Arbor District Library
343 S. Fifth Avenue, 4th Fl.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-327-4200
www.aadl.org
Events are designed and delivered by Michelle Krell Kydd. Programs take place at AADL downtown unless otherwise indicated.
Press
Want to know what makes Smell & Tell events so popular? See what the media has to say about it.
WQKL-FM 107.1 radio host Martin Bandykeinterviews Michelle Krell Kydd about the sense of smell on the fifth anniversary of the Smell and Tell series at the Ann Arbor District Library. You can listen to it here. (January 25, 2017)
Three interviews in 30 days with Michelle Krell Kydd on NPR affiliate stations; because the sense of smell matters.
"Secrets from a Trained Nose," is a TEDx UofM talk given by Michelle Krell Kydd on March 20, 2015 at The Power Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Click on the image above to view the video, which is featured on YouTube.
COMMUNICATOR EXPLORES SENSE OF SMELL, PROMOTES INTERDISCIPLINARITY
Michelle Krell Kydd is interviewed on the subject of the sense of smell and its relationship to joy and wonder. Click on the book for more information.
The Sense of Smell: Using it or Losing it (Podcast)
Glass Petal Smoke Wins Second and Third Place in the 2009 Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards Finalist Competition for "Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage".
The Author and The Site
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Glass Petal Smoke was created out of a personal passion for things olfactive and gustatory. The back story regarding a raw material or finished product is often rich with history, myth and folklore. When all of these aspects are brought together, they tell a story of our common humanity, as expressed through the senses.
Because Glass Petal Smoke is a blog, an element of cyber anthropology infuses the space in which it exists. Culture is about human nature and people who love food and fragrance are acutely aware of the connection between the senses and memory. Glass Petal Smoke appeals to readers who possess such awareness and those who aspire to it.
I hope you find inspiration, joy and wonder in the pages of Glass Petal Smoke and share whatever happiness it brings you with others.
