THE VULTURE. 47 



tugging with might and main at the dim and faded 

 eyes in some decaying portrait of the immortal 

 Doctor Franklin. 



The absurdity of all this must be evident to every 

 body. 



I, in my turn, hope to prove satisfactorily, by 

 inference, that which the American philosophers 

 have failed to demonstrate by EXPERIMENTS. I state 

 that effluvium from putrid matter, being lighter 

 than common air, necessarily ascends in the atmo- 

 sphere, unless artificially impeded (as probably was 

 the case in the first experiment of the American 

 philosophers), or prevented from mounting by super- 

 incumbent humidity. Now, the organ of scent, 

 which is strongly developed in the vulture, coming 

 in contact with this effluvium, when it is allowed to 

 float in the atmosphere, enables the bird to trace 

 the carrion down to its source. Hence I infer, that 

 vultures can find their food through the medium of 

 their olfactory nerves ; and, this being the case, I 

 am of opinion that there ought to be no great mys- 

 tery attached to the act of the vulture's finding 

 putrid bodies, when those bodies are out of sight, 

 either on account of distance, or of interfering 

 objects. 



When the American philosophers shall have 

 proved to me, that effluvium from putrid substances 

 does not ascend in the air, and that the organisation 

 of the vulture's nose is imperfect, then I will con- 

 sider myself vanquished : " efficaci do manus scien- 

 tiae." After those gentlemen shall have accom- 



