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Ability to smell Solutions of Potassium Cyanide

Abstract

IT has been known for many years that some individuals are unable to smell hydrogen cyanide, and the possibility that this inability may be genetically controlled was mentioned at a recent conference on the origin and evolution of man1. A short time ago our attention was directed again to this phenomenon, and we have since used a simple method of ascertaining the frequency of the inability to smell hydrogen cyanide among the white population of Australia and carried out a preliminary study of the mode of inheritance of this character.

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References

  1. Mourant, A. E., Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol., 15, 242 (1950).

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  2. Snyder, L. H., Genetics, 19, 1 (1934).

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KIRK, R., STENHOUSE, N. Ability to smell Solutions of Potassium Cyanide. Nature 171, 698–699 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171698b0

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