The Sixth Sense, Does an organ in the nose constitute the seat of human intuition?
Traditionally humans have been thought to come equipped with five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Animals possess several extra senses, including altered vision and hearing, echolocation, electric and/or magnetic field detection, and supplementary chemical detection senses. In addition to taste and smell, most vertebrates use Jacobson’s organ (also termed the vomeronasal organ and vomeronasal pit) to detect trace quantities of chemicals.
Recent studies have demonstrated that Jacobson’s organ functions in humans as in other mammals to detect pheromones and to sample low concentrations of certain non-human chemicals in air. There are indications that Jacobson’s organ may be stimulated in pregnant women, perhaps partially accounting for an improved sense of smell during pregnancy and possibly implicated in morning sickness.
Now for the book –
Jacobson’s Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smell
NYTIMES Review:”The Jacobson’s organ of the title is a recently discovered organ halfway up the human nose. Watson says that plants, animals and people give off odorless molecules, called pheromones, that are detected by Jacobson’s organ and then passed along to the brain, where they cause contentment, fear and, most notably, sexual attraction. He argues that Jacobson’s organ, as intermediary between insensible signals and emotions, is the seat of intuition and possibly ”the mechanism for operating a true ‘sixth sense,’ one that may account for our sometimes apparently supernatural ability to receive information not normally available to the traditional five faculties.” What a charming idea: silent, invisible, intangible communication….”
Definitely worth further research and discussion. Some good reviews on Amazon.com
