Dead
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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 06.9
Dead Medium: Piesse's Smell Organ
From: kadrey_AT_well.com (Richard Kadrey)
Source: June 1922 issue of (the now long dead) magazine,
Science and Invention, as reprinted in Experimental
Musical Instruments magazine
"The Smell Organ
by Joseph H Kraus
"Which one of us has not listened to the enrapturing
tones of the church organ or the pipe organs in motion
picture play houses, and not awakened to its appeal? Now
an entirely new organ has been developed, which instead of
inspiring and thrilling audiences by sound, translates
music into corresponding odors.
"The suggestions comes from Dr. Septimus Piesse, a
French chemist, who claims that every perfume produces its
own particular effect on the end organs of smell
terminating in the mucosa, mucous membranes lining of the
nose. The organs are called the olfactory cells, and just
as every note has its effect upon the ear and as the
colors have their effect upon the retina of the eye, so
this transposed music, the music of smells, will have its
effect upon the olfactory organs.
"The range of notes has been carefully plotted, the
heavier odors being assigned to the low notes, and sharp
pungent odors to the high notes. Thus, starting with the
bass clef three octaves below middles C, the musical
notes, and the odors assigned to them, (are listed on a
separate list at the end of this piece).
(((The smell organ would be used to play olfactory
transcriptions of classical music.)))
"Of course, the combination of odors will creates a
smell entirely different from any individual qualities of
the various perfumes and it is necessary that, in the
soft, dreamy compositions, the odors blend harmoniously.
Discords will have a decidedly unpleasant effect but
inasmuch as the composers did not dwell upon discords to
any great extent, the audience will be saved the rather
unusual embarrassment of smelling disagreeable
combinations. Some music would perhaps have to be changed
and the odors carefully graduated so that no particular
perfume will predominate, except when the loud pedal, or
rather in the smell organs, the *strong* odor pedal is
trod upon.
"It is, therefore, up to the perfumer to combine the
mixtures in much that same way that an artist blends
colors, or as a good florist makes a bouquet. If it is
desirable to insert a little contrast into the bouquet,
the appropriate blossoms or grasses are used, and so the
perfumer likewise would have to employ the proper aromas.
"The arrangement of the apparatus is such as to
include five or more octaves of colors....These odors have
been discovered and placed in their particular location
after painstaking research, the odors being arranged in
bottles and sprayed up into the air by an atomizer-like
action.
"In each of these bottles, we may note the atomizer
or sprayer attachment. These atomizers are actuated by
keys on the piano. Pressure upon any of these keys closes
a circuit, which operates a solenoid, or suction type
magnet, the latter releasing a valve and permitting
compressed air from an air compressor and storage tank to
blow the odorous vapor upward. In back of the individual
spray nozzle is a funnel-shaped pipe likewise connected to
a compressed air supply source. These create a constant
drift of air blowing the odors upward and this draft is
further facilitated by large rotary fans at the rear of
the theatre. The strong pedal under the piano keyboard
connects with the air supply compartment and operates an
auxiliary valve which admits a further supply of air and
consequently increases the amount of perfume and directly
increases the strength of the odor.
"It is possible that to rid the room quickly of any
odor, ozonized air may be permitted into the funnels."
BASS CLEF
C patchouli
D vanilla
E clove bark
F benzoin
G frangipane
A storax
B clove
C sandalwood
D clematis
E rattan
F castorium
G pergulaire
A balsam of Peru
B carnations and pinks
C geranium
D heliotrope
E iris
F musk
G Pois de senteur
A balsam of tolu
B cinnamon
C rose
TREBLE CLEF
C rose
D violet
E cassia
F tuberose
G orange flower
A new mown hay
B arome
C camphor
D almond
E Portugal
F jonquil
G syringa
A tonka bean
B mint
C jasmine
D bergamot
E citron
F ambergris
G magnolia
A lavender
B peppermint
C pineapple
D citronel
E vervain
F civet
Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |