Savage and Blind

Abstract

There is a widespread belief that primitive peoples and blind persons (or, at least, persons born blind or blinded while young) naturally have a particularly acute sense of smell. Some travellers have even claimed that the olfactory power of the savage is equal to that of the dog. Thus, the power to follow the trail like a dog has been attributed to the peoples of the Torres Straits (Myers was unable to confirm this), to Australian Kanakas, to the Indians of Peru and other parts of South America, and to the kaffirs, whilst the maroon negroes of the Antilles were said to be able to distinguish their own tracks from those of a Frenchman by odour. Again, it seems certain that some blind people have a remarkably keen sense of smell. It appears, however, that those who attribute special sensory powers to the savage and the blind have usually forgotten to consider whether the hyperacuity, if indeed it exists, is inborn or acquired.

The general conclusion which may be drawn from the available evidence is that pure sense-acuity is much the same in all races in the absence of definite pathological conditions such as errors of refraction and ruptured ear membranes, and that the frequent superiority of the savage over civilised man in his recognition of what is going on around him in nature is due to his trained powers of observation, powers usually limited in scope but very highly developed in special directions. W.H. Rivers