Smell is the most basic and most primitive of the senses. It is some 10,000 times more acute than our sense of |taste|. In fact, most food flavors are smelled, not tasted, as anyone with a heavy cold will verify. Nasal congestion prevents the little eddies of ~air~, stirred up by the action of chewing and swallowing, from reaching the receptors in the roof of the |nasal cavity|. Human |smell receptors| distinguish several thousand different types of smell. Some people have a better sense of smell than others. The |nose| also plays an important role in conditioning the inspired ~air~ for the lower respiratory tract. This conditioning includes: the control of temperature, the control of humidity, and the elimination of dust and infectious organisms.
