✦ LIBER ✦
A medieval controversy about odor
✍ Scribed by Simon Kemp
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 58 KB
- Volume
- 33
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5061
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Medieval scholars debated whether odor was transmitted through a medium as suggested by Aristotle or by fumes or vapors from the odoriferous object as suggested by Plato. Key evidence believed to support Aristotle's theory was the behavior of birds in detecting carrion from far away. The medieval approach to this essentially secular controversy was, nevertheless, similar to that used in issues thinkers of that time regarded as of more importance.