Word: probiscus
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...kind of obsessed by them, actually." Of course, he is also pretty obsessive about elephants. He knew, for instance, that the elephant trunk is around 130 times more sensitive than the human nose. He could imagine what it would be like breathing in chili pepper with a probiscus like that. And he started to imagine what a boon it would be if he could persuade African farmers to grow chilies...
Diary of a Madman. Gogol may have been the only writer to really understand the importance of noses in human interaction. In fact, one of the saddest stories I know is connected--rather painfully--to Gogol's own probiscus. He always had a feeling that noses were symbolic, and extremely influential in the development of one's personality. At the same time, however, he was fairly neurotic. Near the end of his life he began to believe that a spirit in his stomach was keeping him from eating, and he got thinner and thinner until finally his archaic doctors decided...
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