692 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



A CORRECTION. 



Messrs. Editors. 



IN an article published in the Jul}' number 

 of your magazine, I said, in speaking of 

 the red-bellied nuthatch, "The author of 

 ' Land and Game Birds of New England ' 

 notes that a nest was found in Roxbury in 

 1866." 



This reference should have been to the 

 " Birds of New England," by Samuels. 



I can not comprehend how I made this 

 error, for my notes from which I wrote re- 

 ferred distinctly to Samuels's work. 



To-day I have learned that Mr. Samuels 

 was wrong in stating that the nest he re- 

 ferred to was found in Roxbury, as it was 

 taken in the Adirondacks by Mr. Minot, a 

 brother of the author of " Land and Game 

 Birds of New England." 



I might add that by typographical errors 

 the scientific names of the Loggerhead 

 and Great Northern Shrikes were slightly 

 changed : the former should have been Col- 

 lurio ludovicianus, and the latter, C. bore- 

 alis. 



Respectfully yours, 



Harry Merrill. 



Bangor, Maine, Juhj 7, 1880. 



ANIMALS AND THE FACULTY OF DIREC- 

 TION. 

 Messrs. Editors. 



I have read Dr. Oswald's "Zoological 

 Enigma " in the July number with great in- 

 terest. One step toward determining by 

 what means animals accomplish such feats 

 must be to find what animals possess the 

 power. The following, which came under 

 my own observation, shows that it exists in 

 the hog : 



Some six years since, in one of the New 

 England States, a pig five weeks old was 

 carried in a close box about four miles. 

 The route was very circuitous, with several 

 sharp turns, and the pig was removed from 

 the box to the sty after dark. The follow- 

 ing day, near noon, he disappeared, and 

 about three hours later was found at his 

 former home. Curiosity led to the exami- 

 nation of the route taken by the pig, and his 

 tracks could be followed nearly all the way. 

 He had started on a straight line for the 

 place from which he was brought the day 

 before, and had followed that line. At one 

 point an impassable fence turned him from 

 the course, but he had moved along the 



fence on one side until he found an open- 

 ing, and then had retraced his steps on the 

 other back to the original line ! 



La Rot F. Griffin. 

 Lake Forest, Illinois, June 25, 1880. 



ABNORMAL ACTION OF OLFACTORY 

 NERVES. 



Messrs. Editors. 



An old acquaintance relates that for 

 several months past his nerves of smell 

 have been singularly and strangely acted 

 upon. For instance, in early spring the air 

 would seem loaded with the odors of fresh, 

 ripe strawberries ; at other times of peaches 

 and other fruits the odors were distinct 

 and pungent, while the season and circum- 

 stances precluded the possibility of any such 

 fruits being in the vicinity. At other times 

 offensive odors (occasionally very offensive) 

 would seem to indicate the immediate pres- 

 ence of well-known offensive substances, 

 where it was known they were not present. 

 Sometimes, however, odors either pleasant 

 or unpleasant would seem to pervade the 

 air which were unrecognized or new. 



In all these cases locality was entirely 

 disconnected with the odor ; as, although 

 the subject often changed his locality, to the 

 extent of miles, it produced no diminution 

 of odor. These attacks continue from hours 

 to days. 



If we assume the undulatory theory in 

 the sense of smell, and that particles from 

 all odorous substances, each through their 

 own peculiar vibration or motion, impinge 

 upon the nerves of the nasal cavity, and 

 thus from the peculiarity of movement 

 rather than of substance produce the sense 

 of smell, may we not assume that the nerve 

 is thrown into a peculiar condition, by the 

 motion of the odorous particle, and this con- 

 dition, repeated through the nerve to the 

 brain, produces the idea of that peculiar 

 smell ? Again, may not diseased or unnatu- 

 ral action of itself, or through the aid of 

 other agents, set up conditions usually and 

 naturally obtained from what we term odor- 

 ous substances, and thus induce false reports 

 and ideas ? Diseased action alone, or in 

 connection with other than the natural sub- 

 stance, might produce the peculiar condi- 

 tion. 



Have we not a like exhibition of per- 

 verted fuuction in the nerves of taste under 

 the action of disease ? As also to the 



