A woman preserves the "smell of history" that evokes memories of the past

ByPeter Reed

People are reminded of various memories and emotions as a result of "smell" which people feel with their noses, such as books placed in old libraries, collections of manga placed on the shelves of parents' house, and barns that are slightly musty. . Research that records and saves such "smell" is done.

Meet the Woman Who Is Preserving the Smell of History | Atlas Obscura
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/meet-the-woman-who-is-preserving-the-smell-of-history

I am continuing my research toward acquiring my Ph.D. at the University of LondonCecilia Ben BibreIs doing research to record 'smell' all over the world. Benivrible tells us that "the smell will connect you to history in a more human way than other things," says Ben Bibre, a traditional British tradition with over 100 years of history using chemistry and "electronic nose" I am about to record the pavilion.


Mr. Ben Bibre chooses that it is a place of cultural significance and a strong smell. Most recently she is working on has a history of over 600 yearsNor HouseAnd it was set up about 400 years agoSt. Paul 's Cathedralis. Nor House is a building where the same family has been living in the history for a long time, old furniture is placed in St. Paul 's Cathedral, many libraries are stored in the inner library, limited people It has become a perfect place to find out the smell that it was only added.

Mr. Ben Bibre wrote "1700 years old leather gloves with decorations of the 1800 '" which was stored in Norr HousePotpourriRecipe for recipe "" Wax for polishing furniture "" Room named "Venetian Ambassador" "Old book", and "Record that my family has collected" Choice of items. I chose gloves because it was probably because I thought it would smell.

As a method of measuring odor, Mr. Ben Bibre chose a method called "headspace analysis" that puts the object in a bag and collects the substance, and a method called "passive diffusion ( Two methods called passive diffusion.

In the headspace analysis, put the object whose odor is to be measured in a sealed bag and put carbon fiber material for adsorbing the volatile organic compound (VOC) which is the source of the odor together. After a reasonable time, take out carbon fiber material, Mr. Ben Bibre calls "big nose"Gas chromatographyWith equipmentMass spectrometryWe analyze the components of odor using the equipment.


In addition, the method of collecting the substance drifting in the space (passively diffusing) is to keep the thin carbon rod upright as follows, analyze after adsorbing the substance, analyze the components of the odor It is a method of analyzing.


Using these methods, Ben Bibre scientifically analyzes the "odor" of the old mansion and the cathedral. Then, I heard that there are many amazing contents. For example, what is the source of the smell of old books is the ingredient of acetic acid, which is the main ingredient of the smell of vinegar. It also becomes a source of a pleasing smell like almondsFurfuralOr, to smell like almonds and cinnamonBenzaldehyde, It seems that it contained the ingredients such as vanillin which releases the fragrance of vanilla and ingredients such as hexanol which smells like grass cuts.

In addition, these substances are released when cells of the material forming the book collapse. In other words, these smells are "the smell of a book dying," Ben Bibre said.


In this way, Mr. Ben Bibre is doing the scientific record of "smell" to leave it in posterity, but says that more important points are left. It is "emotion" that human beings feel by smelling the smell. It is said that smell is strongly associated with human emotions, feeling as a good smell, or a bad smell, and furthermore, it has an inseparable relationship with "memories" strongly connected with feelings. If you can record even such "smell" that evokes emotions and memories, you may appeal to the human mind further and be inherited as a record of historical value.