Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Smell
(3,026 words)

1. Definition

A smell is a specific aroma that emanates from a material, object, or living thing and that is perceptible by the sense of smell. The sense of smell, a remote sense characterized by low stimulus thresholds that in higher animals and humans is located in nasal organs, is – with the sense of taste – part of the chemical sense-organ repertoire of living beings.

2. The human sense of smell

2.1. Physiology

According to the current state of knowledge, the huma…

Cite this page
Heuser, Peter Arnold, “Smell”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 02 October 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_019983>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180208



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