CASEI.

that there was an honest matron I knew who, although she abhorred the eating of cheese no less than hemlock, was nevertheless a help to her husband, who was a wholesale cheese merchant, in handling and selling cheeses. For although pungent smells are usually bothersome at first, if one becomes a little accustomed to them, one will not be much offended by such an odor. This is experienced by sailors, for whom the smell of the pitch with which ships are coated is usually very bothersome at first, but after they have remained on the ship for some time, they perceive no discomfort from it at all.

V. Meanwhile, I would not deny that for some people, the odor of cheese—which exhales more sharply and unpleasantly when it is putrefying—can cause significant disgust, especially since even things that are quite fragrant and exhibit a pleasant odor are accustomed to causing in some people a feeling little short of fainting and loss of spirit. We taught this by examples above in Theorem 3, while dealing with other matters. For, as Plautus says, the palate of diners is different; so too is the sense of smell different. For the same odor is not pleasant to everyone, as Theophrastus says in book 6 of De Causis Plantarum, chapter 5. To some, different things are more pleasant in terms of odor: amber to some, musk to others, civet to others, or rose, citrus, jasmine, etc.