Patrick Süskind wrote the novel The Perfume and wondered "how does a baby smell"? Kind of like that, "well... that's not easy to say, because they don't smell the same everywhere, even though they smell good everywhere. Their feet for example, which smell like a smooth, warm stone - no, more like pottery pots... or as butter, as fresh butter, yes exactly: they smell like fresh butter. And their bodies smells like... a rustle dipped in milk. And their heads, on top, where their crown sits, right there they smell the most. There they smell like caramel that smells so sweet, so delicious. Once you've smelled them there, you love them, whether they're your own or someone else's."
Body smells play an important role in human interaction. The smell is a sense that is directly connected to the instinctive and emotional part of the brain. Although humans of all "animal species" have by far the smallest olfactory organ (bulbus olfactory), this evolutionarily older part of the brain plays a large role in the contact between humans. The body itself secretes pheromones (fragrances) that are partly hereditary determined -the family odour-, partly influenced by life habits, among other things. These pheromones end up in our breath, sweat, urine, faeces and semen.
These substances play an important role in our choice of partner. We will never find a person of the opposite sex sexually arousing if we don't like the smell.
Immediately after the birth, the scent game begins. Mother and child recognize each other by their body odour. The nursing mother has glands around the areola pf her breasts that give off a specific smell that the baby recognizes within three days of birth. The mother also recognizes her baby flawlessly if she is allowed to hold it close to her for about 10 minutes immediately after birth. Especially an unwashed new born baby brings us women in ecstasy, it is a fragrance experience that you never forget and that you still often think about.
Copyright © Arlette Ferber. All rights reserved.
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