Originally broadcast on CHED Radio, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada April 6,1964

When I was a kid we used to play a game which consisted of considerable speculation on which of the senses we would prefer to lose, if indeed, one had to go. It was usually conceded by my friends that they would prefer to do without a sense of smell. I never agreed. To me, smell is a very important sense, one I'd rather not do without.  It is our sense of smell that gives our memories substance.  For example, do you remember the smell of a classroom?  It smelled of chalkdust and oiled floors and little boys sneakers.  Do you remember the smell of your mother's kitchen in the fall, when the stove was covered with huge vats of boiling cucumbers , and the odour of spices permeated the whole house?  And how about the smell of bacon in the early morning, and fresh coffee percolating on the stove?  What about the aroma of fresh bread in the oven, or the scent of burning leaves in the autumn?  Who among us can ever forget the sweet delicate scent of the perfume that that very special girl wore on the night of your first date.  Oh, there are so many smells I would hate to be deprived of.  Carnations, wet with dew, mothballs, cedar closet, old leather, new cars, roast beef, burning firewood, Johnson's baby powder, and on and on and on.  Like I say, the sense of smell gives substance to our memories. Like all our God given senses, the sense of smell is indeed very precious.