[1] In 1857, in his book The Art of Perfumery, Piesse used music to describe how notes and smells can work together: "There is, as it were, an octave of odors like an octave in music; certain odors coincide, like the keys of an instrument.
"[2] As Sadakichi Hartmann noted in 1913, the keys of the octophone "are complementary and can be combined to harmonies as sounds to a musical chord.
It is a valuable guide on a quasi scientific basis for the manufacturers of perfumery, for it is only necessary to strike a chord on the piano, and to know what odors the respective notes of the chord represent, to arrive at the suggestion for some new bouquet.
"[1] Hartmann was skeptical of the value of the perfume organ for "aesthetical" experiments, as "the affinity between sounds and odors is purely speculative".
[3] Instead of attempting harmony of music and scent, the keys on the keyboard of the Science and Invention version played only notes of perfume.