Is Incense a Pheromone?

Abstract

Since the beginning of recorded history men have used only a handful of ingredients in the manufacture of incense. Early Christian writers asked what was so special about incense, and why could not any smoke be used in worship of the deity. This question has never been answered, and the objective of this article is to investigate whether the adherence to the small number of ingredients can be explained in terms of incense odour acting like a pheromone. Pheromones are chemical messengers which pass from one animal to another and effect behavioural or physiological change. One line of evidence is that resin alcohols, which occur in incense, have structures resembling steroids. Steroids are heavily committed in orchestrating and integrating sexual reproduction, and a steroid sex pheromone has been isolated in the pig. Incense ingredients such as cedarwood and sandalwood have distinctive steroid-like odours, which may range from floral to urinary. Incense ingredients have been reported as enhancing the erotic quality of light, floral perfumes, and it is significant that, in Old Testament times, incense ingredients were used to perfume the boudoir, even though other scents were readily available. Plant odours can be demonstrated to change the behaviour of cats, inducing behaviours normally associated with oestrus. It is suggested that incense has certain pheromonal qualities, though the tight repression of the human awareness of sexual odours makes its effect extremely subtle.