398 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



are much concentrated, but which are readily 

 perceived and distinguished by the lower ani- 

 mals ; as may be inferred from their actions. A 

 dog is known to follow its master by the scent 

 alone, through the avenues and turnings of a 

 crowded city, accurately distinguishing his track 

 amidst thousands of others. 



The utility of the sense of smell is not con- 

 fined to that of being a check upon the respira- 

 tion of noxious gases ; for it is also a powerful 

 auxiliary to the sense of taste, which of itself, 

 and without the aid of smell, would be very 

 vague in its indications and limited in its range. 

 What may have been its extent and delicacy in 

 man, while he existed in a savage state, we have 

 scarcely any means of determining ; but in the 

 present artificial condition of the race, resulting 

 from civilization and the habitual cultivation of 

 other sources of knowledge, there is less neces- 

 sity for attending to its perceptions, and our sen- 

 sibility to odours may perhaps have diminished 

 in the same proportion. It is asserted both by 

 Soemmerring and Blumenbach that the organ 

 of smell is smaller in Europeans, and other civi- 

 lized races of mankind, than in those nations of 

 Africa or America, which are but little removed 

 from a savage state : it is certainly much less 

 developed in man than in most quadrupeds. To 

 the carnivorous tribes, especially, it is highly 



