Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:05:09.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Theory of Olfaction and of the Action of Mosquito Repellents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

R. H. Wright
R. H. Wright
Affiliation:
Head, Division of Chemistry, British Columbia Research Council Vancouver 8, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

To produce an odor sensation, a substance must be volatile and its molecules must come into contact with the olfactory end organ, which may require some measure of lipoid solubility. This much is generally agreed, but beyond this there has been no accepted theom of the triggering process by which the odorous molecule initiates a discharge of the olfactory nerve. In part, this ignorance has been due to the lack of any secure correlation between the odors of substances and the chemical constitution or reactivity of the odorous molecules, or their physical shapes or electrical properties. A correlation of odor with molecular vibrational modes would be consistent with most of the facts of olfactory chemistry, but this hypothesis has failed to win general acceptance up till now because, (1) there has been no direct evidence of a correlation between odor and vibrational frequency, and, (2) there has been no suggestion of a mechanism whereby a molecular vibration could trigger a nervous discharge. Some evidence bearing on both these objections has recently been brought forward which is of considerable interest in relation to the problem of insect attractancy and repellency (7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 89 , Issue 11 , November 1957 , pp. 518 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

(1)Dethier, V. G. 1947. Chemical insect attractants and repellents. Blakiston, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
(2)Dethier, V. G. 1954. The physiology of olfaction in insects. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 58, Art. 2, 139–157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(3)Dethier, V. G. 1956. Repellents, in Ann. Rev. of Entomology, Vol. 1, 181–202. (Annual Reviews, Inc.).Google Scholar
(4)Hainer, R. M., Emslie, A. G. and Jacobson, A.. 1954. An information theory of olfaction. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 58, Art. 2, 158–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(5)Linduska, J. P., Cochran, J. H. and Morton, F. A.. 1946. Flea repellents for use on clothing. J. Econ. Entomol. 39, 767–769.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(6)Morton, F. A., Travis, B. V. and Linduska, J. P.. Evaluation of mosquito repellents. U.S. Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, Sept. 1947, E-733.Google Scholar
(7)Wright, R. H. 1954. Odor and chemical constitution. Nature, 173, 831.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(8)Wright, R. H. 1954. Odor and molecular vibration. I. Quantum and thermodynamic considerations. J. Appl. Chem., 4, 611–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(9)Wright, R. H. and Serenius, R. S. E.. 1954. Odor and molecular vibration. II. Raman spectra of substances with the nitrobenzene odor. J. Appl. Chem., 4, 615–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(10)Wright, R. H., Reid, C. and Evans, H. G. V.. 1956. Odor and molecular vibration. III. A new theory of olfactory stimulation. Chem. and Ind., 1956, No. 37, 973–977, Sept. 22.Google Scholar
(11)Wright, R. H. 1956. The physical basis of insect repellency. Nature, 178, 638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(12)Brown, A. W. A., Sarkaria, D. S. and Thompson, R. P.. 1951. Studies on the responses of female Aëdes mosquito. Part I. The search for attractant vapors. Bull. Ent. Res., 42, 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(13)Sarkaria, D. S. and Brown, A. W. A.. 1951. Studies on the responses of female Aëdes mosquito. Part II. The action of liquid repellent compounds. Bull. Ent. Res., 42, 115–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(14)Roth, L. M. and Willis, E. R.. 1952. Possible hygroreceptors in Aëdes aegyptt (L.) and Blatella germanica (L.), J. Morph. 91, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(15)Brown, A. W. A. 1956. Factors which attract Aëdes mosquitoes to humans. Tenth International Congress of Entomology.Google Scholar