323. THAT SPIRITS CAN SMELL ODORS AND THAT THOSE ODORS CORRESPOND TO THEIR SPIRITUAL LIFE It is a remarkable thing that the dead after their [bodily] life, when it is so permitted, can clearly and sensibly smell the quality of a subject who is dead; and in the case of those who have led an evil life the odor then given is as foul as that smelled from a corpse, so that they cannot suffer their approach. They have told me that such an odor is like that of a most fetid corpse, and that there is a diversity of such odors or stenches as there is of the spiritual things of life. A similar stench has often been excited near me, and indeed that of a stinking mouse, which corresponds to avarice, with indefinite variety. From these things I can conclude that by the mark set upon Cain is meant such an odor so that there was nowhere that he could wander, because men would want to drive him away: for something similar occurs in the other like which has been shown me to the life by much experience. But such an odor is usually taken away from anyone when he is carried to his own habitation, for if it were then present, he could not be received anywhere and stay there. Therefore they are admitted into habitations by other perceptions which are disposed by God Messiah alone. 1747, Dec. 9.