328 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



the scent which leads the hound or dog to follow 

 or to find the fox, the hare, and all the birds 

 of game. The most uncertain is the scent from the 

 fox or hare. In this case we have the fox, who, 

 in the nose of man, smells so strong that your 

 gloves, in taking up a hunted fox from the liounds, 

 during the time those gloves last, are never 

 divested of the aroma — they are tainted as long 

 as they hold together, yefc, for all this, I have 

 seen a dog on which, while the hound could not 

 own the line of a fox, some would feather on 

 and even speak to the foot of a hare, which 

 hare, had the hounds killed her, would have 

 afforded no sort of smell to the nose of man 

 whatever, nor have tainted in any way the gloves 

 he wore. 



Scent, then, baffles all our attempts to under- 

 stand it ; and all we can be sure of is, that scent 

 and smell are two existences having nothing to 

 do with each other, though both are acknow- 

 ledged by the nose. The strongest, the worst, 

 and most filthy effluvia on the nose, lijDs, and 

 in the stomach and breath of a hoimd, will not 

 prevent that hound from racing on the line of fox 

 or hare ; and the horrible smell that pervades 



