ZOOLOGY. 301 



lower animals, it not only becomes necessary in the detection and se- 

 lection of food, but warns of the approach of friends or enemies, and 

 performs numerous other duties, sometimes attaining a delicacy which 

 renders it nearly equal in rank to sight and hearing. The hunting- 

 dog and the antelope are well-known examples of this. The sexual 

 appetite is frequently excited through this sense. But in man, this 

 sense is not commonly developed to its fullest possible extent. It is 

 well known that the senses possess a certain sort of compensating 

 power ; that is, if one is lost, the others become more acute. The ca- 

 pabilities of this sense in the human being are well exemplified by 

 the case of James Mitchell, who was blind, deaf, and dumb from birth, 

 and distinguished between persons principally by smell. It enabled 

 him to detect the entrance of a stranger at once. It is recorded of the 

 wine-tasters of Spain, that they can distinguish between five hundred 

 different kinds of wine ; and instances are familiar to every one, of the 

 faculty of telling several kinds of wine, or several varieties of the same 

 kind, many times in succession, with the eyes covered. The tea-tasters, 

 to be found in great commercial cities, acquire very nice discriminating 

 powers, frequently determining the investment of large sums of money 

 by merely tasting a specimen of tea. 



Persons accustomed to the use of tdtoacco can at once distinguish the 

 variety brought from Havana, and even in some instances, the particu- 

 lar plantation from which it comes. 



The French cultivate the olfactory sense to a much greater extent 

 than most other nations, not only in the art of perfumery, but in cook- 

 ery, which becomes almost a fine art with them ; and there seems to 

 be no reason why the imagination should not be reached through this 

 organ as well as through the eye and the ear. The scent of the fresh- 

 ly-opened rose, or the flavor of the strawberry, has as valid a claim to 

 the notice of the poet as the song of the lark, or the beauty of sunset. 

 At all events, much pleasure and practical advantage might be gained 

 by its systematic cultivation, even if we should never rival the powers 

 of " the Monk of Prague, mentioned in the Journal of the Learned of 

 the year 1684." 



" He not only knew different persons by the smell, but, what is much 

 more singular, could, we are told, distinguish a chaste woman, mar- 

 ried or unmarried, from one that was not so. This Religious had 

 begun to write a new treatise on odors, when he died, very much 

 lamented by the gentlemen who record this story of him. For my 

 part, I do not know whether a man of such talents would not have 

 been dangerous to society." 



THE PHYSIQUE OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS. 



At a recent meeting of the Geographical and Statistical Society, N. 

 Y. City, Dr. W. H. Thompson, State Examining Surgeon of New 

 York, read a paper upon the " Physique of different Nationalities as 

 indicated by the inspection of recruits for the Federal armies." Dr. 

 Thompson stated that he had examined nearly 9,000 men, about half 

 of whom were natives, and had, therefore, an excellent opportunity to 

 make comparisons. Some of the most important results arrived at 

 through these comparisons are detailed as follows : 



" The first subject which naturally presented itself was the bodily 

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