4 JULY 1952, Page 7

In my infancy a big cedar tree in the garden

was felled, or perhaps was blown down in a storm. From, part of the butt the estate carpenter made a large box of toy bricks, and with these my brothers and I used to play upon the nursery floor. They had, not unnaturally, a delightful aroma. When I grew up I almost entirely lost—I do not know why—my sense of smell. My own children now play with the cedarwood bricks, and the curious thing is that, although I can smell virtually nothing else, I can smell them very distinctly. The still more curious thing is that, according to people with good noses, these bricks now have no smell at all. STRIX.