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Product Description
According to naturalist and bestselling author Lyall Watson, we all possess an anatomical feature that could be one of the most important keys to unraveling the mysteries of the human mind. Two tiny pits located inside the nostril, long thought to be vestigial, Jacobson's Organ may in fact be an intrinsic part of our mammalian senses. In this entertaining and informative book, Watson rescues our most underappreciated sense from obscurity. He brings to light new evidence that this evolutionary apparatus, discovered in 1811, is the pheromonal mechanism that triggers the areas of the brain affecting awareness, emotion, and sexual behavior. This highly refined sense can help us determine everything from the suitability of potential mates to identifying offspring, and offers insight into how, why, and what we remember.
Filled with surprising and delightful anecdotes, Jacobson's Organ sniffs out the scientific truths behind a wide range of phenomena and behaviors in the plant, animal, and human worlds. "In his spirited ode to the nose, Watson urges us to acknowledge and celebrate the power and influence of the sense of smell" (Boston Herald).
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
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