The Perfumed Reaction: the "Petits Musques" of the French Revolution

The political figure of the Muscadin is as persistent as the smell of musk that gave him his name. Although this controversial creation of the Jacobins used to serve as a way to epitomize the enemies of the Revolution, this figure became during the 19th century the symbol of the reactionary aristocracy, of its ludicrousness and of its excesses. These political uses of perfume, whether they be real or assumed, allow for the exposition of the way olfaction contributes to the controversial creation of social categories.