Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell [Hardcover]

Lyall Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. So why do we persist in dismissing the nose as a blunt instrument? 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 Carolus 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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The nose knows, says Lyall Watson, and in Jacobson's Organ, he sets out to prove that a humble, often overlooked set of nasal pits helps us decide whom to hit on, and whom to hit. First identified in 1811 by Danish anatomist Ludwig Levin Jacobson, the vomeronasal organ has been implicated in the reception of pheromones, those ephemeral chemical signals animals use to communicate nonverbally.

Watson organizes his thesis around the seven broad classes of smells identified by pioneering naturalist Carolus Linnaeus: floral, goatish, musky, foul, nauseating, spicy, and garlicky. In each section, Watson presents evidence of a surprising and unacknowledged role of smell and pheromones in human life. Is it possible that first impressions are the result of chemical signals? Watson thinks so, and also that pair-bonding, fistfights, love of offspring, and memories may have more to do with our humble nose than we think. In what is bound to be one of his more controversial stretches, Watson implicates nasal plastic surgery in postoperative mood changes:

Every time a surgeon slices away at a nasal septum in the name of fashion or vanity, both sides of Jacobson's organ are at risk of being damaged or even removed entirely, without thought for the consequences.... If you are considering cosmetic surgery on your nose, know that it could deprive you of the very things in life which having a new, cute, little button nose were supposed to improve.

Jacobson's Organ is full of Watson's pithy opinions and conjectures. Some are supported by science, some are not. But as we learn more about the role of the vomeronasal structures in human chemical communication, it becomes clear that a nosey approach is nothing to sneeze at. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

There's little doubt that smell plays a significant role in the lives of humans. Watson (Beyond Supernature), like many before him, argues convincingly that odors are superb at rekindling lost memories. He is also in good company when he asserts that some smells and some pheromones often have consequential but unconscious effects on humans. Beyond rehashing what has become widely accepted, Watson attempts to discuss the importance of Jacobson's Organ, the "unconscious partner to the nose." Jacobson's Organ, also called the vomeronasal organ, consists of two small pits in front of the nasal septum with nerves feeding directly to the most primitive, limbic area of the brain. Scientists believe that the vomeronasal organ in humans, as in reptiles, can sense large molecules that have no impact on our ordinary sense of smell. Watson claims that it is "a chemical clearing house for subliminal impressions, for... bad vibes, warm fuzzies, instant dislikes and irresistible attractions. Just the sort of will-o'-the-wisps with which any decent sixth sense ought to be concerned." Perhaps there is a sixth sense mediated by Jacobson's Organ. The problem, however, is that Watson spends virtually all of his time providing eclectic information on the traditional sense of smell, only alluding to Jacobson's Organ. Only in his final chapter does he focus on it directly; and there, to his credit, he writes, "everything that follows here is pure speculation on my behalf." As with his earlier work, Watson provides tantalizing conjectures, but his uncritical acceptance of the paranormal reduces his credibility. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393049086
• ISBN-13: 978-0393049084
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scent: The Biological Mechanism Underlying The Psyche, November 17, 2000

By 

Karina Douglas (Strickland, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell (Hardcover)

For anyone in Western society that prides him/herself as an autonomous human "being" driven by a highly evolved, and "reasoning" mind, Jacobson's Organ offers a humbling look at just how basic we are as sentient creatures attempting to sort through a world of stimuli. Having created a lifestyle that caters to our psychological desires, we tend to overlook the biological mechanisms underlying and contributing to them. Watson's book offers a new perspective on one of the oldest mechanisms we have: the olfactory sense. He even goes so far as to propose that the brain may have evolved from a lump of olfactory tissue (Ch. 1 A Brain is Born). Jacobson's Organ has appeal for anyone interested in evolutionary biology, animal behaviour, and psychology. However, as it is classified under "Biology", potential readers should be forewarned that the format is more of a scientific thesis than an anecdotal essay of human interest. With over two hundred pages, the book can be "dry" in places, but there is enough balance between fact and author's insight to make it interesting. To appreciate the text fully, I recommend that anyone interested in this book have some background knowledge in biology, psychology, and western languages.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Forgotten Sense of Smell, March 13, 2002

By 

Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell (Mass Market Paperback)

Smell is the forgotten sense according to Lyall Watson. Our noses do more than just smelling out odors. We always say something is smelly in the air. Something wrong. The Jacobson's organ, discovered by Danish anatomist Ludwig Levin Jacobson specializes in recognizing smells that carry specific information about gender, reproduction, and dominance status. This vomeronasal organ has been implicated in the reception of pheromones, those ephemeral chemical signals animals use to communicate nonverbally. The function of this organ implicates underlying correlation between our olfactory sense and the brain, specifically the limbic system of the brain. Limbic system constitutes the rear brain area directly above the spinal cord characterized by appendages of "limbs".

Lyall Watson presents numerous facts and arguments about how the forgotten (neglected) organ retrieve and convey to the brain significant nonverbal messages shuttling from the outside world. Watson drew from papers on scientific studies to support his argument. Some of his conjectures include trees communicate with one another through pheromones. At times of stress, trees will secrete the sweet-smelling ethylene and create this aromatic envelope and sustain themselves. Under temperature change or possible intrusion, the mimosa will protect by shutting down and taking avoiding action-namely releasing anesthetics and cringing in response to cuts, burns, light touches, or even change in temperature. Clover produces an oestrogen that mimics a key mammalian hormone found in female sheep to reduce grazing by reducing the number of grazers. This is what we call chemical mimetics in chemistry.

Lyall Watson packs in this book tremendous amount of facts and details. Some of the claims he makes are not necessarily backed by clear scientific evidence and thus readers might find the argument ambiguous and incoherent. Watson also likes to switch from one concept to another without elaborating on the logic behind. So beware of the switching. Some of the examples he draws are very relatable. Take synesthesia, for example, the combination of different ways of knowing about the same things. Have you wondered why it is so easy for car passengers to fall asleep in a long drive? According to Watson, it is the repetitive sound and sights that the passengers succcumb to the usual passing-by sights and get drowsy. The eye-hand-foot coordination (synesthesia) however keeps the driver awake. Another interesting idea Watson brings forth is schizophrenia. Schizophrenic is born with sufficient sensitivity to bring him, and his brain system to conscious attention that normal people not prone to. It is a disease in which abnormal messages seem to pass routinely from one individual to another. Watson also talks about aromatherapy-how certain fragrance oils can trigger sexual arousal, hormone production, or even strikes an ancient chord of memories. The book overall is fun to read but be careful that not all claims Watson makes are confirmed and backed by scientific research, partly because research is still undertaking in this area. After all, smell is still treated as some secondary sense to sights and sounds. 3.2 stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars But is it about smell?, June 13, 2001

By 

A. G. Plumb "Greg Plumb" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell (Hardcover)

This is a startling book in the story it tells. According to this book all of us have an organ in our nose that responds to airborne signals, but these signals may not have smells. So, the fact that much of this book is about smell may confuse - it certainly took me close to the end of the book before I realised that Jacobsen's Organ responds not necessarily to smell but to other vapours. The fact that the olfactory nerve does respond to smell demeans Jacobsen's Organ if it too responds to smell. But what if Jacobsens' Organ responds to vapours that do not smell? This is a very striking possibility.

Experiments have been done on animals that also possess a Jacobsen's Organ and Mr Watson describes the data gathered from such experiments - inferring extensions to human beings. We know that animals respond to chemical signals called pheromones. Are there similar messages passing between people?

For those of us who do have a sense of small (most people) I like to call smell the 'involuntary' sense - we must breathe so we must smell whatever is carried in the air. There is no other similar sense except touch - and that only in the blessedly rare occurence of torture. We can always cover our eyes or ears, keep our mouths closed. But we cannot stop breathing for any length of time. Consequently I was interested in Mr Watson's information about smell - its types, and our reactions to them.

But the real value from this book didn't come, for me, in the descriptions of smell (which I found rather rambling), but in the description of Jacobsen's Organ - of which I had been totally ignorant. And the possibility of sensing non-smelling signals - pheromones perhaps - that circulate involuntarily between people is startling. Is that sense of instant bonding that occasionally occurs when I meet someone caused by messages passing between us, sensed by our Jacobsen's Organs and immediately modifying our mood?