34 Wild Beasts 



ought to be taken into consideration, but with the 

 exception of currents of air, they have not been noticed 

 to the author's knowledge. Scent in an elephant is very 

 acute, and the scope of this sense, as well as its delicacy 

 and discrimination, is greater than in most animals. At 

 the same time, the nervous energy that vitalizes this ap- 

 paratus is variable in quantity, and never exceeds a defi- 

 nite amount at any one time. If wind sweeps away those 

 emanations which would otherwise have stimulated the 

 olfactories, no result occurs, and precisely the same con- 

 sequence follows a diversion of nerve force into other 

 channels. 



Many accounts have been given in which this 

 seemed to be the cause of an unconsciousness that was 

 explained by saying that the sense itself was in fault. 

 Evidently, however, when the energy through which an 

 organ acts is fully employed in carrying on action some- 

 where else, its function must be temporarily checked. 

 Preoccupation, however, fully accounts for the phenomenon. 

 Thought, feeling, concentrations of attention, physical and 

 mental oscillations of many kinds, perturb, check, pervert, 

 augment, or diminish function in this and other directions. 

 If we cannot accustom ourselves to looking upon wild 

 beasts as acting consciously and voluntarily, it seems 

 probable that little progress towards understanding their 

 habits and characters is likely to be made. 



How, for example, are the following facts related by 

 Gordon Gumming, to be reconciled with conventional 

 opinions upon the shyness and timidity of elephants, their 

 fear of man, and the possession of instincts which act 



