issed Ippolita's arms and
shoulders, we are told, "he perceived the sharp and yet delicate
perfume of her, the perfume of the skin that in the hour of joy
became intoxicating as that of the tuberose, and a terrible lash
to desire."

When we are dealing with the sexual significance of personal odors in man
there is at the outset an important difference to be noticed in comparison
with the lower mammals. Not only is the significance of odor altogether
very much less, but the focus of olfactory attractiveness has been
displaced. The centre of olfactory attractiveness is not, as usually among
animals, in the sexual region, but is transferred to the upper part of the
body. In this respect the sexual olfactory allurement in man resembles
what we find in the sphere of vision, for neither the sexual organs of man
nor of woman are usually beautiful in the eyes of the opposite sex, and
their exhibition is not among us regarded as a necessary stage in
courtship. The odor of the body, like its beauty, in so far as it can be
regarded as a possible sexual allurement, has in the course of development
been transferred to the upper parts. The careful concealment of the sexual
region has doubtless favored this transfer. It has thus happened that when
personal odor acts as a sexual allurement it is the armpit, in any case
normally the chief focus of odor in the body, which mainly comes into
play, together with the skin and the hair.

Aubert, of Lyons, noted that during menstruation the odor of the
armpits may become more powerful, and describes it as being at
this time an aromatic odor of acidulous or chloroform character.
Galopin remarks that, while some women's armpits smell of sheep
in rut, others, when exposed to the air, have a fragrance of
ambergris or violet. Dark persons (according to Gould and Pyle)
are said sometimes to exhale a prussic acid odor, and blondes
more frequently musk; Galopin associates the ambergris odor more
especially with blondes.

While some European poets have faintly indicated the woman's
armpit as a centre of sexual attraction, it is among Eastern
poets that we may find the idea more directly and naturally
expressed. Thus, in a Chinese drama ("The Transmigration of
Yo-Chow," _Mercure de France_, No. 8, 1901) we find a learned
young doctor addressing the following poem to his betrothed:--

"When I have climbed to the bush