NATURE S VINAIGRETTE. 29 



Stone is left upon another of this ancient and inter- 

 esting building, the odor of musk must remain to 

 refresh or to annoy its visitors, according as the sense 

 is affected." 



Has musk not some medicinal qualities? 



" Taken internally after being dissolved in water, 

 the substance of this little bag is said to be an excel- 

 lent specific for pulmonary diseases. It is, too, a 

 well-known fact that the negroes of the South value 

 highly — and are not deterred by the necessarily close 

 and nauseous proximity to obtain it — the substance 

 of the pole-cat as a sure cure for rheumatism as well 

 as for coughs and colds. " 



Then the odor of musk belongs to many animals? 



" Musk is probably the most common of animal 

 perfume, or at least the one which we are best able 

 to recognize. The muskrat, inhabiting our own ponds 

 and ditches, is greatly in demand by the compounder 

 of perfumes, and it is a species of jollification to 

 hunt them, which dogs and negroes enter into with 

 excited zest. In all thoroughbred cattle there is a 

 small cavity in the head, immediately between, and 

 at the root of, the horns. By rubbing the fingers in 

 this cavity a distinct odor of musk will be perceptible 

 in them." 



How in this position can it refresh the animal? 



"That is Nature's secret, betrayed only to the 

 owner of it." 



Have I not heard that beavers betray themselves 

 by a peculiar odor? 



" Yes, beavers emit an odor, well known to hunters 

 of them, in which it seems that Nature cruelly favors 



