In a lecture hall at the University of Wyoming in 1899, a chemistry professor named Edwin E. Slosson played a prank on one of his classes. He explained that he wanted to demonstrate the diffusion of odor through the air. He poured some liquid from a bottle onto a wad of cotton, making a show of keeping it away from his nose. He started a stopwatch and told the students to raise a hand as soon as they smelled something. Here’s what he reports happened:
“While awaiting results I explained that I was quite sure that no one in the audience had ever smelled the chemical compound which I poured out, and expressed the hope that, while they might find the odor strong and peculiar, it would not be too disagreeable to any one. In fifteen seconds most of those in the front row had raised their hands, and in forty seconds the “odor” had spread to the back of the hall, keeping a pretty regular “wave front” as it passed on. About three-fourths of the audience claimed to perceive the smell, the obstinate minority including more men than the average of the whole. More would probably have succumbed to the suggestion, but at the end of a minute I was obliged to stop the experiment, for some on the front seats were being unpleasantly affected and were about to leave the room.”
Slosson’s experiment vividly demonstrated the potency of olfactory suggestion, for he was holding a cotton ball soaked in nothing but water.
— Avery Gilbert
What the Nose Knows. The Science of Scent in Everyday Life
Crown Publishers, New York, 2015
>>> A se citi împreună cu fragmentul din El libro de los abrazos de Eduardo Galeano, citat în antologia noastră Osmé. Antologie de texte pentru nasul oricui, Peter Pan Art & Entheos, 2022 (în curs de publicare).
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