Anosmia; or, Cases Illustrating the Physiology and Pathology of the Sense of Smell

strong as they were."He -has also ever since completely lost the sense of smell.The very strongest odours brought under his nose produce no sensation whatsoever.The tactile sensibility of his nostrils is with this quite unaffected.The slightest touch of the mucous membrane is felt perfectly, and snuff produces tickling and sneezing.He states that he has lost not onily the sense of smell, but also that of taste: for he cannot in the least distinguish one meat from another.Boiled onions, boiled apples, boiled turnips, all appear the same to his palate.He cannot at all recognise the aroma or flavour of wines; though he can distinguish wines from each other to a certain extent by their different degrees of roughness and of sweetnevss.Port, for instance, he can tell from claret by its being sweeter and less rough.Besides sweet- ness he can distinctly recognise saltness, bitterness, acidity.Excluding these qualities, one substance is exactly like another to his palate, excepting so far as they are more or less hard and rough.Notwithstanding all this he is not absolutely indifferent as to his food.He has preferences, derived apparently from memory ;1 and he especially dislikes any new article of diet.There is no muscular palsy, no loss of sensibility, nor other symptom than those mentioned.CASE 2.-Mr.--was knocked down by a cab some two years ago, and fell backwards, striking his occiput heavily against the road.For a minute he was stunned, but recovered, and managred to get home, where he was laid up for a time suffering from the local injuries, and from severe headache.All this, however, passed off, and he was left with no other permanent symptom than total loss of smell.This has remained without change ever since the accident.He cannot perceive the very strongest odours, that for instance of assafetida.The tactile sensibility of the 1 " Ce sens," says Longet, speaking of combined smell and taste, " manque de mermoire."The impressions of flavour would, however, appear from the above to be more permanently retaiued in the miiind than Loiiget would admit.