Smell
The olfactory sense allows us to smell odours (man can detect 3000 different smells). Some are pleasant; others unpleasant or unremarkable. The sense of smell is hugely important in consciously or subconsciously determining our behaviour; closely linked to taste, it is a recurring theme in history, in the hygienist movements, in urbanism and in literature, as demonstrated by Patrick Süskind's famous novel, "Perfume".
Today, it has become so common to deodorise, both the body and the urban environment (the Great Stink of Paris of 1880) that the modern day philosopher Alain Corbin has spoken of an "olfactory silence". While we now strive for inconspicuousness or even the complete absence of odour, perfumes on the other hand, accessories of seduction, cover the scents that are supposedly unpleasant to ourselves and to others.
The connotations and impressions we associate with odours - nauseating or sweet, repellant or delicate - have an influence on our social, symbolic and imaginary perception, sometimes resulting in attraction, sometimes in repulsion.
