Wiki:
IN ANIMALS: Jacobson’s organ, also known as the vomeronasal organ (VNO = Vestigial Organ), is a chemosensory organ located in the nasal cavity or roof of the mouth of many animals. It plays a role in detecting pheromones and other chemical signals, influencing behaviors like mating, social interactions, and foraging.
IN HUMANS(?): While the VNO is present in human embryos and some adult humans, its function in humans is unclear and debated. Pathological Conditions: The human VNO has been associated with conditions like sinus septi nasi, posttraumatic stress disorder, and ectopic olfactory esthesioblastoma, according to ScienceDirect.com
On the scent of the sixth sense
Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell
by Lyall Watson
Jacobson's organ is an anatomical structure lying in the nasal septa of a wide range of animals. It is named after Ludwig Levin Jacobson, an eighteenth-century Danish army surgical officer with a penchant for comparative anatomy. His discovery was reported to the world by Baron Georges Cuvier, of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. “The organ consists of a long narrow bag of gland-like substance,” he told his students in 1811, “surrounded by a cartilaginous case of the same form, located on the floor of the nasal cavity, on each side, very near the ridge on which rests the inferior border of the cartilaginous portion of the nasal septum …
**************
Jacobson's Organ and the Remarkable Nature of Smell (amazon)
Book by Lyall Watson
Nothing is more memorable than a smell. So why do we persist in dismissing the nose as a blunt instrument?
(Amazon excerpt) Smell is our most seductive and provocative sense, invading every domain of our lives. We can identify our relatives, detect the availability of a potential mate, sniff out danger, and distinguish between good and bad food just with our noses. In this surprising and delightful book, Lyall Watson rescues our most unappreciated sense from obscurity. He brings to light new evidence concerning Jacobson's Organ: an anatomical feature discovered high in the nose in 1811 and dismissed for centuries as a vestigial ghost. Yet recent research has shown Jacobson's Organ to be an incredibly influential pheromonal mechanism that feeds the area of the brain affecting our awareness, emotional states, and sexual behavior.
Following the seven classes of smell devised by the pioneering botanist Carl Linnaeus in his Odores Medicamentorum, Watson examines the roles of smell and pheromones in humans, plants, and animals. He reveals the curious ways in which trees communicate their distress, the olfactory abilities of feral children, the bond we have with our offspring, the psychosexual effects of perfume, and the link between smell and memory formation. Jacobson's Organ unlocks the door to the strange world of this mysterious sense.
https://www.amazon.com/Jacobsons-Organ-Remarkable-Nature-Smell/dp/0393332918
No comments:
Post a Comment