What do Clarice, Crawford and the troopers apply under their noses?

fixit_fiona

In a scene in Silence of the Lambs , prior to opening a body bag, Clarice, Crawford and the local police in the room apply some white substance to the skin under their noses. What is this substance and what purpose does it serve?

Originally asked by king of panes on Stack Exchange (movies) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Per the script ; FAVORING CRAWFORD: as he looks at Clarice with a new degree of respect. Men brush by him, till finally only two are left: DR. AKIN, a family g.p., and LAMAR, a lean, whiskey-reddened mortician. SOUND of the door closing. Lamar dabs around his nostrils with Vicks VapoRub. and the source novel Then there were only Crawford and Starling and the doctor in the room with the victim, Dr. Akin and Starling looking at each other with a kind of recognition. Both of them were oddly pleased, oddly abashed. Crawford took a jar of Vicks VapoRub out of his pocket and offered it around. Starling watched to see what to do, and when Crawford and the doctor rubbed it around the rims of their...

Full answer by Valorum: https://movies.stackexchange.com/a/133487 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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