TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s Alabama Museum of Natural History and the UA Arboretum will host a St. Valentine’s Day dinner featuring an aromatically inspired gourmet meal and a presentation by one of America’s leading fragrance authorities, Saturday, Feb. 14, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Smith Hall, 427 6th Avenue, on the UA campus.

Annette Green, a prominent figure in the international fragrance industry who established the Oscars of the fragrance industry and the country’s first fragrance museum, will present “Scents of the Heart.” Her presentation focuses on the roles fragrance has played in society, from earliest of times, and the effects of aromas on human behavior.

The event is $40 per person. Phone 205/553-3278 for reservations, open through Feb. 7.

According to Green, founder of the Sense of Smell Institute, incense has long been a memorable part of religious services, and ingredients serve as medicinal remedies.

“In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries in Europe, people carried fragrances with them to help cope with foul smells that pervaded the environment,” said Green, author, with Linda Dyett, of the book “Secrets of Aromatic Jewelry” (Flammarion, Paris--New York, 1998).

Because bathing was considered dangerous in polluted waters and streets were filthy because of lack of sanitation, men and women refreshed themselves by washing with colognes.

“Men often carried hollow headed canes filled with potpourri that they could hold to their noses to block obnoxious smells,” Green said. “In the summer, tightly corseted women would depend on whiffs of fragrance to keep them from fainting.”

In 1981, Green created a non-profit, charitable organization known today as the Sense of Smell Institute, devoted to the study of the effects of fragrance on behavior and quality of life.

Green calls the science behind the study of fragrance ‘aroma-chology.’ “

“Grants have been given to sensory psychologists in universities and hospitals who have scientifically substantiated the positive role of fragrance in improving one’s sense of self, concentration, sleep, and interpersonal relationships,” Green said. Smells register directly in the limbic center of the brain where emotions, creativity, sexuality, and memory reside.

“It’s no wonder that fragrances play a transforming role in our lives from childhood,” said Green. “Without the sense of smell, we feel an alienation from our environment; we cannot experience a full range of taste sensations, dangerous odors elude us and threaten our safety, and intimate relations become more fragile.”

Helen Keller once described the sense of smell as “the fallen angel of the senses,” and Green agrees that society is increasingly dependent on what some have described as the tyranny of sight, almost to the exclusion of the other four senses.

The dinner and presentation will be held in historic Smith Hall’s Grand Gallery of ornate Corinthian columns and a majestic glass roof.

Proceeds will benefit UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History and UA’s Arboretum, providing programs and activities teaching participants about Alabama’s rich natural and cultural heritage.