Scent of tragedy lingers in a 650-year-old perfume bottle buried by pogrom victim
When the tiny stopper is delicately eased free, a mere wisp of scent imprisoned for over 650 years is released.

In a unique experiment, scientists at the L’Oreal perfume institute in Paris tried to analyse the ingredients of a perfume whose precious container survived the Black Death, which annihilated a third of the population of Europe.
(Via Guardian Unlimited Science)

Y wrote:

I started thinking how rare scented oils were, compared to now. To carry a scent in a piece of cotton, place it in a bottle in order to carry it around your waist. How beautiful the thought of that.

Scent is such an industry and no longer special. The elite aspect is not welcomed, either. But, the beauty of it…trying to capture the scent of grass or damp wood after a rainfall…flowers, the sheerness of air.

Scent parallels music.
Music used to be special. Performed only by musicians (whether amateurs or professionals) in real time. There were no recordings until 100 years ago. Now you can hear music at every gas station, fast-food chain etc.
We gained something, but we also lost something. That surprise, even shock of smelling something new, or hearing a different music. Only a person traveling would smell and hear these scents and sounds…