216 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



which forms a clog, and is sticking to the feet, is worn 

 off by a few steps on the sound ground, after leaving the 

 ploughed land." 



I have been compelled to quote the whole of this 

 long-winded sentence, pausing only at its first round 

 period, that I may not, according to a prevailing fashion 

 of the day, by halving of the text, appear guilty of a 

 wilful perversion of its meaning. Having sifted it, and 

 measured it by inches, feet, and paces, 



" Till one, with moderate haste, might count an hundred," 



the only inference at which the limited powers of my 

 comprehension have been enabled to arrive, is this — that 

 it is a sentence of excommunication — a total ejection of 

 the body of the fox from communion with the air. But 

 how is this supported ? We are reminded of the fact, 

 which all must admit, that when the ground is in such 

 a state that a pedestrian might carry off nearly enough 

 land upon his shoes, to entitle him to a vote for the 

 county, that the feet of a fox, or Jiounds, are in like 

 manner encumbered. It is also evident (for I do not, 

 by any means, deny that there is, in proportion, as 

 much scent in the pad as in any other part) that when 

 a fox takes with him, instead of leaving behind, those 

 portions of the earth immediately subjected to contact 

 with that matter which he, 



"Through the network of his skin, perspires ;" 



there must be far less scent than when there is the 

 effect of contagion from the earth, to add to the in- 



