Lachrymal Sinus of Deer, 97 



thQ eye that they create a very reasonable suspicion that they are connected 

 ■with that organ, and hence the term larmier applied to them. The bottom 

 of the depression is in most cases naked, but in some it is covered with the 

 hair, consequently it is composed of the skin formed into an open sac, accom- 

 modated in a corresponding depression in the bones of the face. In many 

 animals provided with this organ, a gutter, formed by folds of skin, leads so 

 directly to it from the surface of the eye, that the passage of the tears fron? 

 the one place to the other appears inevitable ; while in others this communi- 

 cation is so imperfect that a doul^t is at once raised as to its destination to 

 such a purpose. If the pa,rt in question be not a cavity, as suggested by 

 some, in which the overflowing secretions from the surface of the eye are 

 disposed of by evaporation, another reason for its existence must be assigned. 

 The arguments which may be urged against the supposition that it is des- 

 tined to receive the tears are, first, that it exists in the antelopes and deer 

 only, and is even absent, or merely rudimental, in many of these ; while in 

 «inimals said to be destitute of the usual canals for carrying off the tears to 

 the nose, as the elephant and hippopotamus, it is absent ; secondly, that the 

 solid concretions generally found in it are not composed of such ingredients 

 as the tears and other secretions from the surface of the eye should afiord. 



If the conclusion that there are cavities for the reception of tears be 

 discarded, their identity of nature and character with the numerous provisions' 

 for the secretion of peculiar or odoriferous materials suggests itself. In many 

 instances, especially in the mammalia, glands are found opening on the surface 

 of the skin, and pouring out peculiar fluids, sometimes altogether unconnected 

 with any organ ; such are the glands on the side of the head between the eye 

 and the ear of the elephant, those described by Tiedemann between the eye 

 and nose in certain bats, consisting of a sac with a folded lining membrane, 

 affording a foetid, oily secretion, and beneath the eye in the marmot and two- 

 toed ant-eater ; such also are the glands on the side of the chest of the shrew, 

 described by St Hilaire, and the inguinal glands of hares. Still more remark- 

 able examples are furnished by the pouches, affording the valuable odoriferous 

 materials in the musk, beaver, and civet ; and if additional examples be 

 required, they are found in the otter, male hyena, ichneumon, badger, and 

 the dorsal gland in the peccary. That the cavities alluded to in the deers 

 and antelopes afford peculiar and often odoriferous secretions, is established on 

 the authority of several naturalists. Buffon describes the contents in the 

 t?tag as resembling ear-wax. Daubenton found the secretion in an old stag 

 so much indurated as to constitute a solid mass, or bezoared, as he calls it, 

 eleven lines long, seven broad, and six thick. Camper found hard, yellowish 

 particles in the fallow deer. In a species of antilope first described by Dr. 

 Herman Grimm, this organ secretes a fluid of such peculiar and distinct 

 character that no doubt can be entertained of its nature. He describes it to 

 be a yellowish, fatty, and viscous humour, having an odour between musk 

 and camphor. Vosmaer says that it hardens and becomes black in time, and 

 that the animal rubs it off on the rails of its cage, but he could not detect the 



