THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 215 



excite him, but for an instant, it is then " no7i redolet 

 sed oletj' then that his, smell may be designated by a 

 harsher term. It is precisely the same with a fox re- 

 posing in unconfined space. The air around him is, 

 then not impregnated with the effluvia from his body, 

 which betray the proximity of some luckless captive, 

 doomed in chains to waste his sweetness on an out- 

 house. It is not till he is roused, that his fuming 

 vapours rise, 



" And v/ith the ambient air eiitangKng mix." 



Now, as to " the most convincing and satisfactory 

 proof" of this most extraordinary doctrine, I must have 

 recourse to the Diary itself, page 192 : — " But the most 

 convincing and satisfactory proof that the scent does 

 come from the touch of the animal, is, that when the 

 ground carries, after a frost, and there is even a burn- 

 ing scent on turf, and sound hard ground, until the 

 hounds get on a fallow, or ploughed ground, when they 

 will feel the scent for a few ixices only, and it will 

 entirely go until they are held across the plough-field ; 

 and when they are again on turf, or sound ground, or 

 going through the fence, they will hit off the scent 

 immediately, as the foot is clean and touches the 

 ground, which is accounted for by the foxes' feet 

 gathering earth, as soon as they tread on the ploughed 

 ground, which, on being pressed, adheres to the bottom 

 of the feet (which is called carrying), consequently 

 prevents the feet from touching the ground, until this, 



