Page 40 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

All Smells Occur In The Brain

If someone is asked how he senses the smells

around him, he would probably say "with my nose".
However, this answer is not the right one, even though
some would instantly conclude that it was the truth.
Gordon Shepherd, a professor of neurology from Yale
University, explains why this is incorrect; "We think that we
smell with our noses, [but] this is a little like saying that we hear
with our ear lobes." 9
Our sense of smell works in a similar mechanism to our
other sense organs. In fact, the only function of the

nose is its ability to act as an intake channel for
smell molecules. Volatile molecules such as
vanilla, or the scent of a rose, come to
receptors located on hairs in a part of the nose
called the epithelium and interact with them.
The result of the interaction of the smell molecules with
the epithelium reaches the brain as an electric signal. These electric signals are

then perceived as a scent by the brain. Thus, all smells which we interpret as
good or bad are merely perceptions generated in the brain after the interaction
with volatile molecules has been transduced into electric signals. The fragrance
of perfume, of a flower, of a food which you like, of the sea—in short all smells
you may or may not like—are perceived in the brain. However, the smell
molecules never actually reach the brain. In our sense of smell, it is only
electrical signals which reach the brain, as happens with sound and sight.
Consequently, a smell does not travel in any particular direction, because
all smells are perceived by the smell center in the brain. For example, the smell

of a cake does not come from the oven, in the same way that the smell of the
dish does not come from the kitchen. Likewise, the smell of honeysuckle does
not come from the garden and the smell of the sea, some distance away from

A person smelling roses in his or her garden does not, in reality,
smell the originals of the roses. What he or she senses is an
interpretation of electrical signals by his or her brain. However,
the smell seems so real that the person would never understand
that he or she is not smelling the original rose, and some
therefore suppose that they are smelling the real rose. This is a
great miracle created by God.

38 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION