234. Facility of Scent in the Vulture', 



honour of being the first man who, by his " interesting 

 treatise," caused the explosion to take place. 



I grieve from my heart that the vulture's nose has received 

 such a tremendous blow ; because the world at large will 

 sustain a great loss by this sudden and unexpected attack 

 upon it. Moreover, I have a kind of fellow-feeling, if I 

 may say so, for this noble bird. We have been for years 

 together in the same country ; we have passed many nights 

 amongst the same trees; and though we did not frequent 

 the same mess, (for " de gustibus non est disputandum," 

 [" there is no disputing about tastes,"] — and I could not eat 

 rotten venison, as our English epicures do,) still we saw a 

 great deal of each other's company. 



Sancho Panza remarks that there is a remedy for every 

 thing but death. Now, as the vulture has not been killed 

 by the artillery of this modern writer in Jameson's Journal, 

 but has only had its nose carried away by an explosion, I 

 will carefully gather up the shattered olfactory parts, and do 

 my best to restore them to their original shape and beautiful 

 proportions. In repairing the vulture's nose, I shall not 

 imitate old Tahacotius, who, in times long past and gone, did 



from 



The brawny part of porter's bum 

 Cut supplemental noses, which 

 Would last as long as parent breech ;" 



but I will set to work upon my own resources, and then the 

 reader shall decide whether the vulture is to have a nose, or 

 to remain without one. 



We all know what innumerable instances there are, in 

 every country, of the astonishing powers of scent in qua- 

 drupeds. Thus, the bloodhound will follow the line of the 

 deer-stealer hours after he has left the park ; and a common 

 dog will ferret out his master in a room, be it ever so 

 crowded. He is enabled to do this by means of the well- 

 known effluvium which, proceeding from his master's person, 

 comes in contact with his olfactory nerves. A man even, 

 whose powers of scent are by no means remarkable, will 

 sometimes smell you a putrid carcass at a great distance. 

 Now, as the air produced by putrefaction is lighter than 

 common air, it will ascend in the atmosphere, and be carried 

 to and fro through the expanse of heaven by every gust of 

 wind. The vulture, soaring above, and coming in contact 

 with this tainted current, will instinctively follow it down to 

 its source, and there find that which is destined by an all- 

 wise Providence to be its support and nourishment. 



I will here bring forward the common vulture of the West 



