Nerves of Smell.
Mother: Yes; for some dogs will follow the footsteps of their master, though he has been out of sight for hours, and Smell is so keen that they use him in tracking game while hunting. Some Indians in South America can tell if a stranger comes near them, even in a dark night, by the use of Smell alone. They can also tell if a stranger is black or white. In some people Smell is much keener than in others.
Elmer: When I had a cold last week, I couldn’t smell at all.
Mother: Sometimes when one has a very bad cold, the opening into Smell’s room gets filled up so that odors can not get in. People having a disease called ca-tarrh´ often can not smell at all.
Helen: But of what use is Smell to us?
Mother: First, he helps us to eat proper food. We are not apt to eat anything which has a bad odor; at least we should not do so. Smell might be said to be a twin brother to Taste, and part of his duty is to help Taste in selecting proper food for the body. Sometimes when dinner is cooking, I hear you say: “Oh, how good it smells! It makes me feel hungry.”
“Dogs will follow the footsteps of their master.”
Percy: I have often felt that way, but I didn’t know it was Smell giving me an invitation to eat.
Mother: Another way Smell cares for the body is by giving us warning against bad air. Sometimes a lot of tiny folk called “germs” get into the air and make it unfit to wash the blood. These germs are “seeds of sickness,” and should never be allowed to get inside the body. Sometimes they make the air smell bad, and then Smell sends word to the brain: “Look out! Don’t come here; for this bad air will make you ill.”