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Ability to smell Solutions of Potassium Cyanide

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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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