All the perfumes and perfume
ingredients that we produce in our factories are modelled to a greater or
lesser extend on those found in nature. Smell and taste are the oldest of our
senses. Diurnal birds and aquatic animals rely heavily on sound; man and a few
primates rely on the vision; but all other species use smell and taste, the
chemical senses, as the dominant medium through which they obtain information
about the world in which they live. Since smell is such an important source of
information for us, it is not surprising that nature has developed a very
sensitive and sophisticated system for the analysis of the chemicals which make
up our environment. It is important to note that the tongue only detects sweet,
salty, sour and bitter, the rest of taste is, in fact, smell. The volatile
flavour ingredients are vaporized in the mouth and reach the nose through the
airways behind the roof of the mouth.
Living organisms also use the
chemical senses as a means of communication. If the communication is between
different parts of the same organism, the messenger is referred to as hormone.
If the signal is between two members of the same species, the messenger is
called a pheromone. Plants also produce chemicals to attract or ward off
insects. Some of the odorous chemicals that have a pleasant smell are used by
man as a perfume ingredient, e.g. the shrub Commiphpra abyssinica
produces a resin that contains a number of antibacterial and antifungal
compounds. The role of the resin is to seal the wound and prevent bacteria and
fungi from entering and damaging the plant, it also has a pleasant small, and
so it is used as a perfume ingredient known as myrrh.
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