THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 235 



of a river, which causes the oldest hounds in the pack 

 to throw their tongues with joy, when stemming the 

 current of some rapid stream ? or is it that they greedily 

 inhale the scent, nowhere more strong than where the 



" fuming vapours rise, 

 And Jtang upon the gently purling brook?" 



Surely, there must be little enough of touch, or pad 

 scent, in the middle of the water ; yet with what avidity 

 will terriers and spaniels follow upon the scent of a rat, 

 or water-bird, across a river. I have been dwelling, like 

 an old southern hound, upon the subject ; have been 

 minute, perhaps, even to prolixity in detail ; but I shall 

 be excused by all who bear in mind, that if 



Obscurus fio;" 



■brevis esse laboro. 



and that it is not enough to say, that, amongst all 

 highest extant authorities,* I have found none dissenting 

 from my view of the case, unless I also adduce some- 

 thing, in shape of fact, to serve for the groundwork of 



* Mr. Bell, Professor of Zoology at King's College, says, " The fox has a 

 subcaudal gland, which secretes an extremely fetid substance." — Cloquet, in the 

 French EncyclopcBdia, says, " In the vicinity of the posterior parts of the dog 

 [tribe, to which foxes belong], are two small pear-shaped receptacles, from the 

 inside of which a thick unctuous matter exudes, of a fetid odour, which escapes 

 through an opening in their margin, by the assistance of several clusters of 

 muscular fibres, in which these receptacles are enveloped." The same author, 

 in speaking of the fat of these animals, says, " In general it is nearly fluid, 

 and, like the rest of the animal's body, possesses an almost insupportable fetid 

 odour." 



