Just What We Need, More Shrinks

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Just What We Need, More Shrinks
“US Manufacturing Shrinks for First Time in 3 Years”–headline, Associated Press, July 2

Qu’est Que C’est?
“Psychopaths have a remarkably poor sense of smell, according to a new study,” Agence France-Presse reports:

Researchers in Australia tested a theory that psychopaths–a severe personality disorder characterised by lack of empathy, antisocial behaviour and callousness – may be linked to impaired smell ability. . . .

Using “Sniffin’ Sticks”–16 pens that contain different scents, such as orange, coffee and leather – they found the participants had problems in correctly identifying the smell, and then discriminating it against a different odour.

Those who scored highest on a standard scorecard of psychopathic traits did worst on both counts, even though they knew that they were smelling something.

There is, however, this qualification: “The study makes clear that a poor sense of smell does not by itself mean that someone is a psychopath.” We thought something was fishy about this, but maybe we were mistaken.

NOTE: Mr. Taranto is traveling.  The excerpt above is from the July 2 and Sept. 21 BOTW archives.