or thousands of years perfumery has linked fragrance with sex, or more broadly, with human emotion. The Assyrians and Egyptians burned vast quantities of incense in their religious and political ceremonies. The Greeks and Romans did the same, both on public occasions and in their private homes. In biblical times spices scented both the marriage bed and the funeral bier. (We have a catalogue of the aromatic substances that Moses carried onleaving Egypt, and many of these are still in general use.) Characters in Shakespeare rubbed civet on their bodies as a perfume. In context, all these activities heighten an occasion or improve the status of an individual.

Whatever the original reasons for the use of perfumes, our interest in them has been thoughtfully nurtured and encouraged over the years. Playing on human anxieties and the universal desire to enhance our individual power and attractiveness before an often indifferent world, purveyors of perfume through the ages have urged upon us the considerable advan tages of smelling good. Modern advertisements for perfumes make delicious promises, in pictures if not in words. The right fragrance will overcome inevitable personal shortcomings in intelligence, beauty, wealth, or whatever, and we can come out on top smelling like a rose. Whether or not we find this argument compelling and delight in dabbing ourselves with per fume or after-shave lotion, it seems obvious that perfume has met some elementary need of varied races and cultures across millennia of human history.