Fevre says the odor of the sweat of lunatics
resembles that of yellow deer or mice, and Knight remarks that
the absence of this symptom would enable him to tell whether
insanity was feigned or not. Burrows declares that in the absence
of further evidence he would not hesitate to pronounce a person
insane if he could perceive certain associate odors. Sir William
Gull and others are credited with asserting that they could
detect syphilis by smell. Weir Mitchell has observed that in
lesions of nerves the corresponding cutaneous area exhaled the
odor of stagnant water. Hammond refers to three cases under his
notice in which specific odors were the results of affections of
the nervous system. One of these cases was a young woman of
hysterical tendencies who exhaled the odor of violets, which
pervaded her apartments. This odor was given off the left half of
the chest only and could be obtained concentrated by collecting
the perspiration on a handkerchief, heating it with four ounces
of spirit, and distilling the remaining mixture. The
administration of the salicylate of soda modified in degree this
violaceous odor. Hammond also speaks of a young lady subject to
chorea whose insensible perspiration had an odor of pineapples; a
hypochondriac gentleman under his care smelled of violets.
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