CASE FROM DUGALD STEWART 95 



subject under discussion is given by Dugald Stewart 

 in his account of the boy James Mitchell, who was 

 born blind, deaf and dumb, and was wholly de- 

 pendent on his sense of smell in his intercourse with 

 others. He would instantly become sensible of the 

 presence of a stranger in the room, and would form 

 his estimate of the person's character from his smell. 



This is not the only case of the kind on record, 

 but it is the most striking one, and to my mind 

 it does give support to that notion of our uncon- 

 scious smell as being concerned in the estimate 

 we instinctively and instantaneously form of the 

 characters of those we are brought in contact with. 



We may say that Mitchell, deprived of his two 

 most important or intellectual senses, and dependent 

 on smell and touch, was reduced to something like 

 the position of the dog in relation to other beings, 

 the dog of course having a considerable advantage 

 in the possession of sight and hearing. The chief 

 interest in this case, however, is in the power of 

 estimating the character of those who came in his 

 way by the smell. Let us see then how it is, in this 

 matter of judging by the smell, with the dog. 



Let us take the case of a dog that is not wholly 

 parasitical, a parlour or lap-dog with his faculties 

 dimmed or atrophied, but a natural dog who lives 

 much out of doors, yet is free to come and go as he 

 likes in the house — a lively, frisky, active dog, with 

 all a dog's curiosity in the people from outside who 

 come into the house, known to him or strangers. 

 He drops in at five o'clock, let us say, to find the 



