Why do things always smell?

A direct question begs a direct answer: Because odors are unfortunately unavoidable. They follow us our whole lives – whether we want them to or not. Just about every living organism or object, regardless of whether it’s a plant, fish, animal, person, lounge chair or television, emits odor molecules. Our ability to smell odors depends on the number of odor molecules present. And, because our body is constructed in a way that warns us against rotten food or fire, our noses never stops working.

What would happen if we could visit the past and smell the odors of the various centuries down the ages? Let’s do some exploring.

Big animals, big odors

In the history of creation it was said “let there be light.” But really it should be “and let there be odors.” Long before the first living creatures crawled onto our shores, animals lived and bred in water – and mostly through their sense of smell. Just like dinosaurs.

The desert would have been a far more appealing place to our discriminating noses. Rainforests with their rotting vegetation and decomposing dinosaurs, swamps that continuously gave off poisonous gases, and everywhere the stench of excrement from giant animals, such as the brontosaurus shown above – I’m afraid that the prehistoric age may well have been a smelly one. Just try and imagine a dog dropping or a cow pat a hundred times bigger, then you’ll have an idea of what we’re on about.

Yes to fur coats, no to deodorant

So let us move forward to a more civilized period. The Neanderthal proved to be very adept at creating his own sense of fashion. However, it would have been a testy time for our noses if we ever visited him at home with his family. Shower gel, soap and the Zielonka Bodystick had not yet been invented. Neanderthals lived in caves where the scent marks of former “tenants”, the wild bears, were ever present. Luckily, relief was on its way in the next thousand years:

The victory of the bath houses

The ancient Romans were the first to set the scene for a more fragrant lifestyle with their bath houses and manner of abode. You can see in the picture above a layout of a bath house that was built by the Romans in Wales. Scent was already embedded in the lives of the people of the early civilizations. By burning scented substances, the ancient Greeks believed they could communicate with their gods with the rising smoke.

Bath houses continued well into the medieval ages. Unfortunately at the same time another development took place that would have pleased our olfactory organs even less:

Life in medieval towns

People kept pigsties next to their houses, rubbish was thrown into the streets, and instead of toilets there were holes in the ground, no sewerage system existed, in sum: it stank to high heaven. As if that wasn’t bad enough; during the years of the Black Death odors became even worse. People were convinced that water opened the pores to contaminated air. The most useful combatant against odors, washing, became a taboo. Instead of washing with water, people rubbed clean cloths over themselves, soap was replaced by powder.

Even after the worst of the plague had passed, daily life in medieval towns did not improve. And there was no relief for the nose in churches either. Rich people were buried in leaky and moist catacombs under churches. This led to a rising smell of decay within the walls of prayer.

Le Mief c'est moi

Nonetheless, a small “justice” did occur: not even the king could escape the nauseatingly bad smells. Here, an original report about the stench in Versailles:

“The bad odors in the park, in the gardens and even in the palace give way to feelings of nausea. The passages, the inner courts, the palace wings and the corridors are full of urine and faeces; the Avenue de Saint Cloud is covered in fresh filth and dead cats. The cows drop their manure in the large gallery, and the stench does not stop before the doors of the royal bedchambers.”

And what was the odor like among the North American Indians? Or, to put it another way:

Was life in a tent a better alternative?

To be sure, teepees must have been an improvement. They had ideal ventilation systems, domestic animals were kept outside and the indigenous folk of America could decide whether to cook inside or out. But in winter the teepee was crowded and stuffy, and the rivers and lakes for bathing were frozen over. And of course the custom of rubbing yourself down with buffalo fat was perhaps not really to our modern noses’ liking – so let’s return to the present again.

The best of both worlds...

Today, thanks to inventions such as sewerage systems, cleverly planned houses and running water, we live in a world of luxury for our olfactory glands.

...and our odor problems today

Well, paradoxically, that is exactly the reason why we are so sensitive to bad odors. In contrast to the inhabitants of medieval cities who encountered bad odors every day, our noses have been saved from many smells. Nevertheless, we still have a very refined sense of smell that has protected us against rotten food, wild animals and other dangers. Today, even the slightest odor can quickly become an annoyance.

And yet, for the first time, there is a solution to all bad odors: the Zielonka Smellkiller.

And what’s even better: our Zielonka Smellkiller works without using any chemicals and can neutralize even the worst smells, and not just by blanketing them with another odor.