NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Fish's brains Acute sight. 



tory nerve," says Dr. Munro, " in its course be- 

 tween the head and nose, passes through a cine- 

 ritious bull, resembling the cineritious or ashes- 

 like matter connected in our body to the olfac- 

 tory nerve within the cranium: consequently, 

 that there can be no doubt that they enjoy the 

 sense of smelling: but there is great reason to 

 believe, that suited to their surrounding element, 

 they are much more sensible of odorous bodies 

 dissolved in water, and applied by its medium, 

 than we should be, if the application of the ob- 

 ject was to be made to our organs of smell by 

 the same medium." 



The fish's brains are sensibly smaller in pro- 

 portion to their bodies than in quadrupeds or 

 birds ; yet the nerves are as large, in proportion 

 to the several organs, as in those two classes. 

 There is found in fish the like principal division 

 into brain and cerebellum ; and these are hollow, 

 and bave ventricles within them. 



Paily instances occur to prove that fish have 

 a very acute sight, not only of objects in the 

 water, but also of those in the air: their jumping 

 out of the water to catch flies is an abundant 

 proof of this ; and they will continue to do this 

 jn a fine summer evening, even after it is so dark 

 that mortal eyes cannot distinguish the objects 

 of their search. 



It is remarked by Dr. Monro (whose experi- 

 ments and observations tend to establish the per- 

 fection of sight in fish) that the humours of the 



