Deep-sea divers recently recovered a leather case containing 40 small vials of perfume oil from the wreck of the Titanic. The little bottles, which probably would have been sold in New York as the ingredients for cologne, belonged to a businessman from Manchester, England. When they pulled the case from the water, the fragrance of the oils filled the air, after almost a century.

"To smell something that smells the same as it did on the Titanic before it went down is simply incredible," said Graham Jessop, an expert in the retrieval of such artifacts.

My wife would say that must be good perfume. A dab lasts a long time.

One time a woman slipped into the dining room after dinner,carrying a small flask. She broke it open and poured it on the head of the honored guest. The room was filled with the smell of very expensive perfume. "What a waste," some of the guests said. "We could have sold that and helped the poor." It cost almost a year's pay.

The man she anointed cut their complaints short. ...