Retrospective Criticism. 85 



my youth. I had read of this when a child ; and many of 

 the theorists to whom I subsequently spoke of it, repeated the 

 same with enthusiasm, the more particularly as they considered 

 it an extraordinary gift of nature. But I had already observed 

 that nature, although wonderfully bountiful, had not granted 

 more to any one individual than w r as necessary, and that no 

 one was possessed of any two of the senses in a very high 

 state of perfection : that if it had a good scent, it needed not 

 so much acuteness of sight, and vice versa. When I visited 

 the southern states, and had lived, as it were, amongst these 

 vultures for several years, and discovered thousands of times 

 that they did not smell me when I approached them covered 

 by a tree, until within a few feet, and that, when so near, or 

 at a greater distance, I showed myself to them, they instantly 

 flew away, much frightened, the idea evaporated, and I assidu- 

 ously engaged in a series of experiments to prove, to myself 

 at least, how far this acuteness of smell existed, or if it existed 

 at all. 



" I sit down to communicate to you the results of those ex- 

 periments, and leave for you to conclude how far, and how 

 long, the world has been imposed on by the mere assertions 

 of men who have never seen more than the skins of our vul- 

 tures, and heard the accounts from men caring little about 

 observing nature closely. 



" My first experiment was as follows : — 



" I procured a skin of our common deer, entire to the hoofs, 

 and stuffed it carefully with dried grass until filled, rather 

 above the natural size, — suffered the whole to become per- 

 fectly dry, and as hard as leather, — took it to the middle of 

 a large open field, laid it down on its back, with its legs up 

 and apart, as if the animal was dead and putrid. I then 

 retired about a few hundred yards ; and in the lapse of some 

 minutes a vulture, coursing round the field, tolerably high, 

 espied the skin, sailed directly towards it, and alighted within 

 a few yards of it. I ran immediately, covered by a large tree, 

 until within about forty yards ; and from that place could spy 

 the bird with ease. He approached the skin, looked at it 

 without apparent suspicion, jumped on it, raised his tail, and 

 voided himself freely (as, you;well know, all birds of prey in a 

 wild state generally do before feeding) : then, approaching 

 the eyes, that were here solid globes of hard dried and painted 

 clay, attacked first one and then the other, with, however, no 

 further advantage than that of disarranging them. This post 

 was abandoned ; the bird walked to the extremity of the pre- 

 tended animal, and there, with much exertion, tore the stitches 

 apart, until much fodder and hay was pulled out, but no flesh 



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