Page 299 sur 490

He felt keenly conscious of how barren all intellectual

speculation is when separated from action and experiment. He knew

that the senses, no less than the soul, have their spiritual

mysteries to reveal.

And so he would now study perfumes and the secrets of their

manufacture, distilling heavily scented oils and burning odorous

gums from the East. He saw that there was no mood of the mind

that had not its counterpart in the sensuous life, and set

himself to discover their true relations, wondering what there

was in frankincense that made one mystical, and in ambergris that

stirred one's passions, and in violets that woke the memory of

dead romances, and in musk that troubled the brain, and in

champak that stained the imagination; and seeking often to

elaborate a real psychology of perfumes, and to estimate the

several influences of sweet-smelling roots and scented,

pollen-laden flowers; of aromatic balms and of dark and fragrant

woods; of spikenard, that sickens; of hovenia, that makes men

mad; and of aloes, that are said to be able to expel melancholy

from the soul.