Page 50 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

48

As you know, the words and sentences we use consist of letters. For
example, the English language alphabet we use to communicate contains
26 letters, which mean nothing on their own. A significant meaning emer-
ges only when they are combined in a specific sequence.

Similarly, an alphabet consisting of receptors is used in the olfactory
system. To put it another way, 1,000 different receptors represent 1,000 dif-
ferent “letters.” There is no specific receptor responding to
every smell in our olfactory region; instead, different
scent molecules stimulate specific receptors, which
then set specific glomerules in the olfactory bulb into
action. This forms a special combination, or code, for
the scent. For example, scent A activates commu-
nication units 23, 246, 456, and 799 in the
olfactory bulb, while scent B does the
same for numbers 382, 573, 684, 812
and 1245. These two different
codes are then perceived as differ-
ent smells in the brain’s scent cor-

tex. A quick mathematical calcula-
tion shows that this mechanism we
possess can identify millions of different
aromas. 39
The reason why the sentence “The kitchen
smells of vanilla” has meaning is that the letters
in our alphabet are set out in a particular se-
quence. Similarly, an aroma from the
kitchen expressing “vanilla” takes place
by means of receptors and glomerules be-
ing stimulated in a particular manner. 39

The Miracles of Smell and
Taste