b'Stop And SmellThe Storiesby Ben RiggsThe great British lexicographer Samuel Johnson wrote that whengreatwriterswriteNewthingsaremadefamiliar,andfamiliarthings are made new. John Steinbeck was recently responsiblefor this as I read Travels with Charley, Steinbecks rendering ofhis cross-country road trip through a burgeoning, complicatedAmerica in the early 60s. His comrade in arms and fur: his FrenchPoodle, Charley. Learning of Lewiesparticular literatureSo,Ididsomesniffingaround.Writing about a stop outside Chicago, And I learned that behind his slightlySteinbeck pulls over his iconic truck wet, button-like snout exists a cacoph-(aptlynamedRocinante,afterthe ony of complexityintricate, precise,spavined horse in Don Quixote) and and artful. letsCharleyouttobeadog,andThere Charley would with his deli- When a dogs nose wigglescate exploring nose read his own par- To watch a dogs nose sniff is to watchticularliteratureonbushesandtree an orchestra of olfaction. Starting withtrunks. . .theconductor:thosewetwigglingSteinbecksmetaphorcaptured noses. my imagination.Whendogsinhale,thewetI envisioned Lewie, my black Lab, spongy exterior of their nose catchessniffingattrees,fenceposts,and odors.Andtheymovetheirnostrilsvagabondgrocerybagsinvisible independently,takinginairthrougharomatic anthologies filled with tales each onesmelling in stereojust asofthedayswho,what,where,and humansreceivevisualinformationwhen. througheacheye(stereoscopically).In the past, Ive wondered what it And the architecture of a dogs nosewas about this tree or that three inch- preserves odors. When humans inhale,esofsidewalkthatseizedhisblack- wesmellandbreathethroughthebarreled body and sent his nose rum- same airway. This dampens the odorsmaging. Id heard of dogs sniffing out and limits our time to process them.survivors under wreckage or even can- Dogs,ontheotherhand,sniffandcer veiled beneath a persons skin. So, I breathe separatelythanks to a smallknewtheirnoseswerenothingto foldoftissuebehindtheirnostrils.Lewies nose, it seems, is like Steinbecks mastery sneeze at.Someoftheairtheyinhalegoestoof metaphor. In a word: impressive. But I wondered about this par- their lungs.Photograph by Ben Riggs. ticular literature. Was it an enchanted Therestcontinuestowardthemetaphor, or was there truth to seeing 300millionolfactoryreceptorsinaLewiesworldthisway,aworldhe dogs nose. Humans benefit from onlylearns about through his nose? six million. 24 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com'