110 Dr. Buchanan on the wound of the Ferret. 



the neck ; and I recollect well, when a schoolboy, of having had a young 

 rabbit destroyed by a weasel, and of the astonishment I felt at seeing 

 upon it, when dead, no mark of injury of any kind, but the mysterious 

 bloody patch and small wound on the side of the neck, described above. 

 The truth seems to be, that whenever the Ferret attacks an animal which 

 it is capable of mastering by main force, it despatches him, not by blood- 

 sucking, but by the most speedy and merciful of all modes of inflicting 

 death — piercing the upper part of the spinal marrow ; but that when it is 

 opposed to animals of large size and strength superior to its own, it alters 

 its mode of warfare, seizing them where opportunity offers, and clinging 

 to them till they expire from loss of blood, pain, and exhaustion of strength. 



An interesting discussion ensued upon the instincts of various animals, 

 and more especially upon the mode in which they destroy their prey. The 

 Ferret, the Weasel, and the Pole-cat seem all to practise the same mode 

 of attack ; which is therefore, probably, common to the whole of the 

 Weasel Family.* The well-known " otter-bite," by which so many salmon 

 are destroyed, exhibiting no mark of injury but a single deep wound in 

 the nape of the neck, and the ravages of the same animal when driven by 

 the freezing of the rivers into the poultry-yard, were particularly insisted 

 on, as showing that the Otter, although differing from the rest of the 

 family in its aquatic habits, resembles them, nevertheless, in instinctive 

 propensities, as it does in general organization. 



18*A Feb., 1846.-7^ President in the Cliair. 



George Brown, Esq., and John Crawford, M.D., were admitted mem- 

 bers of the Society. Professor Gordon read a paper on the Consumption 

 of Smoke. 



4th March, 1846. — Tlie President in the Cliair. 



George Arnott Walker Arnott, LL.D., Keg. Prof, of Botany in the 

 University of Glasgow, was admitted a member. On the motion of Mr. 

 Gourlie, it was agreed that £3 should be voted to the Botanical Section, 

 to assist in defraying the expenses of the Herbarium. Mr. Crum read a 

 note on Professor Licbig's Researches on Protein and Casein, which have 

 been since published by the Professor himself. 



* " Mustelidse" of Bell's British Quadrupeds, corresponding to the division 

 " Martes" of Cuvier. 



