1 86 Hziman Physiology. 



Many animals have the sense of smell in great perfection. 

 Many also, perhaps most, secrete odorous substances which 

 attract to them animals of the same species. The strong scent 

 of many insects must be for them a sort of language, and pro- 

 bably a means of defence. The skunk drives off his enemy 

 with a discharge of a dreadful effluvia, which he has the power 

 to secrete from blood as sweet and pure as a lamb's. This 

 odour fills the atmosphere over a large area and lasts for weeks. 

 Clothing, sprinkled with the secretion, can be freed from it only 

 by burying it in the ground. 



Every animal gives off its own peculiar odour. Dogs know 

 the scent of the birds and beasts they hunt, and seldom mistake 

 one for any other. But every person, also, has his own peculiar 

 and characteristic smell. Those who are blind and deaf can 

 tell all their friends by their smell ; and some who are not blind 

 are endowed with an extraordinary sensitiveness in this parti- 

 cular. I know a lady who, lying in her bedroom with the 

 window open, can smell the plants trodden on by a horse in a 

 neighbouring pasture, the various breakfasts of the villagers, the 

 drinks at the public-house, the medicines people are taking, the 

 qualities of smoking tobacco over a large area, and so on. She 

 has a perception of the condition of persons she passes in the 

 street, can tell whether they have taken baths, and the state of 

 their clothing and often their diseases. Even moral character 

 and conduct seem to come out at times, to persons so sensi- 

 tive, as peculiar odours, as we read of the "odour of sanctity," 

 and of the delightful odours that cling around the bodies of 

 departed saints. 



The natural smell of the perfectly healthy human body is 

 often as delightful as the perfume of a rose or violet. We 

 notice this oftenest, perhaps, in the fresh health of a vigorous 

 childhood. A sweet breath also indicates a satisfactory sani- 

 tary condition. On the other hand, every disease has its 

 distinct, and generally disagreeable odour. Many even pleasant 



