in Deers and Antelopes, 77 



therefore appears reasonable to admit that the effect observed 

 by the two gentlemen alluded to, arose from the animal forcing 

 the air into the nostrils while the nose and mouth were immersed 

 in water. Even in the human subject air may be forced up the 

 nasal duct into the lachrymal sac, by filling the cavities of the 

 nose from the lungs while the nostrils are closed by the hand. 



Persons following up this investigation should be aware that 

 these cavities exist in a very imperfect state in many species, 

 being, in fact, merely rudimental, and incapable of affording 

 the secretion which they are destined to provide in others. 

 The last traces of the organ may even be detected in goats, 

 sheep, and perhaps all the ruminants. It is a beautiful example 

 of that adherence to an original type or model which is so con- 

 spicuous in animal organization, and as if in obedience to a law 

 that all the ruminants should be provided with a sinus beneath 

 the eye for the secretion of a peculiar odoriferous matter, but 

 that it should remain in an imperfect or unfinished state in those 

 who do not require such additional aid to distinguish sex or re- 

 cognise species.* 



Since the above was written I have had an opportunity of 

 examining these sinuses in the wapiti (Cervus canadensis), and 

 obtained from one of the cavities a large solid mass of the in- 

 durated secretion like that found in the sinuses of the stag by 

 Daubenton, and called by him hezoard de cerf. This, Dr 

 Geoghegan, the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the 

 Royal College of Surgeons, has been kind enough to submit to 

 analysis, the results of which corroborate the inference that the 

 secretion found in the cavities is derived from the cavity itself, 

 and not from the surface of the eye. The existence of the hairs 

 and flakes of exfoliated cuticle in layers proves that the deposit 

 is formed from the surface beneath, and not by evaporation of 

 fluids trickling into the cavity. Dr Geoghegan's account of the 

 analysis I annex in his own words. 



" The bezoard described by Dr Jacob is covered by a fine 

 transparent membrane, a good deal resembling goldbeater's 



• The authorities quoted are BufFon in the original quarto edition, t. vi, and 

 Suppl. t. iii. •, Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica; White's Natural History of Sel- 

 bourne : the supplementary volume of Griffith's Translation of Cuvier on the 

 Ruminants, by M^jor Charles Hamilton Smith : and Camper, (Euvres, t. i. 



