macrosˈmatic, a.
[irreg. f. macro- + Gr. ὀσµή smell.]
Zool. Having well-developed olfactory organs. Also fig.
| 1890 W. Turner in Jrnl. Anat. & Physiol. XXV. 106, I propose..to arrange the Mammalia in relation to the development of the olfactory apparatus into three groups:—(a) Macrosmatic, where the organs of smell are largely developed, a condition which is found..in the majority of mammals. [Etc.] 1894 Proc. Zool. Soc. 9 Echidna..is, to use Turner's nomenclature, ‘macrosmatic’. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 753 All that remains in man of the great rhinencephalon of macrosmatic mammals is the olfactory bulb and tract. 1924 Jrnl. Comparative Neurol. XXXVII. 318 Even macrosmatic animals like dogs and fishes locate odorous substances by random seeking reactions, not by direct orientation. 1962 Science Survey III. 260 Cats and dogs, most of the predators, rodents and deer, and many others are called macrosmatic because a large part of their nasal labyrinths are covered with a special olfactory epithelium. 1968 Times 5 Oct. 20/7 [Orwell is] a macrosmatic writer tracking down the stench of hypocrisy or the gangrene of intellectual treachery. 1971 Nature 16 Apr. 432/1 Groddeck argued that man is as macrosmatic as the dog. |