several minds
present. If I should be asked to describe this consciousness, or mental
recognition, I should not know what language to employ. These are some of
the compensations which the blind receive for the great loss they have
sustained. The sense of smell is ranked as the least important of all the
senses, yet it is of great value to the blind. Through this avenue to the
mind come many pleasurable sensations. By it we are aided in the selection
of our food, in choosing ripe and healthful fruits, in detecting
decomposition, dirt and filth, and in ascertaining much that eyes discover
to those who have them. Without it flowers would have no attraction for
us, and life would lack many of its pleasures. At the risk of being
classed among dogs and vultures. I acknowledge that I am often guided by
my olfactories in doing things that seem so very unaccountable to my
friends.

In passing along the business streets my attention is continually
attracted by the odors that issue from stores, shops, saloons, etc., and
these peculiar smells often direct me to the very place I wish to find.
From groceries come the odors of spices, fish, soaps, etc. From clothing
and dry goods stores the smell of dye-stuffs. From drugs and medicines,
the combined odor of many thousand volatile substances, such as perfumes,
paints, and oils, asafaoetida, etc. From shoe stores comes the smell of
leather; and from books and stationery the smell of printer's ink. Hotels,
saloons and liquor stores, emit that unmistakable odor of alcohol, the
prince of poisons. To me the smell of alcohol, wines, etc., has always,
since my earliest recollection, been grateful and fascinating; and had I
cultivated an appetite for strong drink, it would be as difficult for me
to pass a liquor saloon as for a man whose eyes are tempted by a
magnificent display of mirrors and bottles. I have often been made aware
of open cellar doors by a damp, musty smell that commonly proceeds from
underground rooms, and have, I think, been saved from falling by this odd
warning. I should have fallen, however, only a few days ago, into one of
these yawning horrors had it not been for my ever watchful wife who was
providentially near and called to me in time to save me from injury. Some
workmen were laying a patch of side-walk on Main street, in the town in
which I reside, and had opened a cellar-way near which some of them were
at work, but did not warn me, doubtless because they did not see