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Tuesday 11 October 2016

Nose

HISTORY

Sushruta, the first known plastic surgeon specialized in rhinoplasty i.e. nose reconstruction. This was important in ancient India as convicted criminals and women accused of adultery had their noses amputated. Rhinoplasty offered them a chance to escape the stigma.

Byzantine Emperor Justinian II (668 – December 11, 711) responded brutally to any opposition and consequently, generated enormous opposition to his reign. This resulted in his deposition in 695 in a popular uprising. After he was deposed, Justinian's nose was cut off, to prevent him from seeking the throne again - tradition prevented mutilated people from Imperial rule. He replaced his nose with a solid golden prosthesis, and in 705 retook the throne. 

When the Vikings invaded ninth century Britain, they brought with them their violent customs and imposed strict tax laws on the locals. Any citizen refusing to pay would either have his nose slit. From this comes from the phrase "to pay through the nose", meaning to pay a lot.

Medieval priests were reprimanded by their superiors for using their sacred garments for the blowing of their noses. The upper class Romans used to carry napkins for such purposes but this custom disappeared for more than a thousand years.

In the 1890s, Professor Lees Ray of Liverpool invented the Nose Improver, a brass implement designed to press ugly noses into better shapes.

Dutch winemaker Ilja Gort was reported to have insured his nose for 5 million Euros in 2008.

HUMAN NOSE

Women’s noses grow until the age of 15 to 17; for men, it is 17 to 19.

An average man's nose is 5.8cm long and sticks out 2.6cm. Women's are 5.1cm and stick out 2.2cm.

The nose of a Belgian male aged 80. Wikipedia Commons

According to Guinness World Records, the longest nose on a living person was that of the Turk Mehmet Özyürek (October 17, 1949 –May 18, 2023), which measured 8.8cm (3.46in) from the bridge to the tip. Mehmet Özyürek was officially confirmed as the record holder on March 18, 2010.

Within a split second, the human nose modifies the moisture of inhaled air to a constant relative humidity of 75%, and the temperature to a constant of 98.6F (even if the air is 40F or 100F)

The reason why we have two nostrils is because different smells are detectable at different air speeds, so one nostril is always more open than the other to give us a wider olfactory range.

Your nose constantly goes through "nasal cycles" where the two nasal cavities alternate being partially congested to enhance your sense of smell and help lighten the workload. This is why, during a cold, one nostril always appears to be plugged while other is open.

The human nose can recognize and remember 50,000 different scents.

Your nose is connected to your memory center; that's why smells trigger powerful memories.


You see your nose at all times, your brain just chooses to ignore it.

In an average lifetime, a person will grow about two metres of nose hair from each follicle.

Obsessive nose picking is called rhinotillexomania.

Rhinotrichotillomania, on the other hand, is the word for compulsively pulling out nose hairs.

The point where your nose meets your forehead is called the nasion.

If you squeeze your nose together so that no air goes in or out, you can't hum.

ANIMAL NOSE

A cat’s nose pad is as unique as a human fingerprint, so no two feline noseprints are ever alike.

Dogs have two noses. The second, which humans don't have, is called Jacobson's Organ and is located at the back of the nose. This double smelling system allows some trained dogs to sniff out bladder, kidney and prostate cancer with a 95% accuracy.

If you unfolded and laid out the delicate membranes from inside a dog's nose, the membranes would be larger than the dog itself.

Photo of a common canine nose. Shi Tzu's nose. - Wikipedia

The tip of a nose, especially a mammal's cold, wet nose, is called the rhinarium.

An ant has five noses.

Source Daily Express

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