Handy

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Buckland.jpg

Dean Buckland, the geologist, when riding once with friends and the party lost their way and were overtaken by night, alighted from his horse, picked up a handful of earth, smelled it, and at once declared they were near Uxbridge. He knew the geology of the land and the smell of the soil.

Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, March 23, 1921