/oss/taxonomy/term/1067/all en /oss/article/environment-history-science-science-everywhere/solution-skunk-pollution <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=5427"><img alt="skunks" height="192" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/06/skunks-300x192.jpg" width="300" /></a>I remember the first time I ever smelled the fragrance of a skunk.  I thought someone had let off a stink bomb.  You see, even back then I was a lot more familiar with emissions from test tubes than from animals.  This certainly smelled as if someone had mixed sodium sulfide with an acid to release hydrogen sulfide-the classic smell of rotten eggs and stink bombs.  A smell potent enough to quickly drive any living creature away.  Which of course is exactly what the skunk has in mind when it lets loose from the little scent glands on either side of its rectum.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Scientists have long been intrigued by the chemical composition of skunk aroma.  Way back in 1862, the famous German chemist Friedrich Wohler received a gift of "Nordamerikanischen Stinkthiers" fluid from a "freunde in Neuyork."  It was too smelly for the great man to work with so he gave it to one of his underlings, identified only as Dr. Swarts of Gent.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/06/12/a-solution-to-skunk-pollution/">Read more</a></p> Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:14:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1958 at /oss