https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n15/mike-jay/in-the-alchemist-s-den Created Fri, 14/07/2023 - 00:00 Updated Fri, 14/07/2023 - 00:00 Smell has always been a crucial diagnostic sense, the one that brings us closest to the fundamental properties of matter, and the evolution of perfume follows an unbroken narrative thread that extends from alchemy to modern industrial chemistry.