-- The
words fiquidis perfusus odoribus, he translates van civet &
moschata gestinken: that individuals differed toto coelo in their
opinion of smells, which, indeed, was altogether as arbitrary as
the opinion of beauty; that the French were pleased with the
putrid effluvia of animal food; and so were the Hottentots in
Africa, and the Savages in Greenland; and that the Negroes on the
coast of Senegal would not touch fish till it was rotten; strong
presumptions in favour of what is generally called stink, as
those nations are in a state of nature, undebauched by luxury,
unseduced by whim and caprice: that he had reason to believe the
stercoraceous flavour, condemned by prejudice as a stink, was, in
fact, most agreeable to the organs of smelling; for, that every
person who pretended to nauseate the smell of another's
excretions, snuffed up his own with particular complacency; for
the truth of which he appealed to all the ladies and gentlemen
then present: he said, the inhabitants of Madrid and Edinburgh
found particular satisfaction in breathing their own atmosphere,
which was always impregnated with stercoraceous effluvia: that
the learned Dr B--, in his treatise on the Four Digestions,
explains in what manner the volatile effluvia from the intestines
stimulate and promote the operations of the animal economy: he
affirmed, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, of the Medicis family,
who refined upon sensuality with the spirit of a philosopher, was
so delighted with that odour, that he caused the essence of
ordure to be extracted, and used it as the most delicious
perfume: that he himself (the doctor) when he happened to be low-spirited,
or fatigued with business, found immediate relief and
uncommon satisfaction from hanging over the stale contents of a
close-stool, while his servant stirred it about under his nose;
nor was this effect to be wondered at, when we consider that this
substance abounds with the self-same volatile salts that are so
greedily smelled to by the most delicate invalids, after they
have been extracted and sublimed by the chemists.
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