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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
O.Henry says the pharmacist smelled bad.
"Behind his counter he was a superior being, calmly conscious of special knowledge and worth; outside he was a weak-kneed, purblind, motorman-cursed rambler, with ill-fitting clothes stained with chemicals and smelling of socotrine aloes and valerianate of ammonia."
I could not find out what socotrine was. I have made pills
of aloes, and do not recall objectionable odour. The last item has a peculiar spelling, which is not in the online dictionaries. I suppose it is some compound of valeric acid, which is one of the things that gives garbage its
characteristic disagreeable odour. I cannot imagine what use a pharmacist would use it for.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
I looked on the web, and socotrine aloes is a kind of aloe. It's also called Zanzibar. From the Socotra archipelago. It's part of Yemen and is in the Indian Ocean.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Thanks jheem. Peculiar though, the quote makes it sound
as though the socotrine was something else, as the quote's next item was aloes.
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