144 SCENT, &C. 



has been more perplexing, the hounds have only been able to 

 hunt it at the wrong end, or backwards, and after many hours 

 expectation; the fact is, that the hounds are never so far from 

 their game, as when they hunt it the warmest. All these acci- 

 dents are only the effect of the hoar frosty or very gross dew 

 (for they never happen otherwise), and from thence must the 

 miracle be accounted for. At the going off of a frost, the mer- 

 cury is commonly falling, and by consequence the scent sinking 

 into the ground. The earth is naturally on such occasions, 

 fermenting, stinking, and very porous, so that it is impossible, 

 but that most of the particles of scent must then be corrupted, 

 buried, or destroyed by stronger vapours : it is common to hear 

 it said, the hare carries ; but that is not all, for by what has been 

 alleged, it is plain she is not so eagely pursued by the scent of 

 her feet only. Thus having ascertained that a thaw tends to 

 corrupt the particles of scent, it leaves a fair reason to maintain, 

 that thefrost fixes, covers, and preserves them. Whether this 

 is done by intercepting their ascent, and precipitating them to 

 the ground by the gross particles of frozen dew, or whether by 

 protecting them from the penetrating air, is not professed to be 

 decided; but the facts are certain, confirmed by experience. 



It is a very well known fact, that the sense of smell varies 

 very much in dogs ; or, to speak as a sportsman, some of them 

 possess better noses than others. In dogs with broad heads, the 

 os aethmoides, or sive 6one, is much larger than in narrow headed 

 dogs ; the lamina cnbrose, or the sive itself, is therefore more 

 capacious, and contains more openings ; so that the olfactory 

 nerves, which pass through it, are divided more minutely, and 

 thus that exquisite acutene-S of smell is produced, which is found 

 to obtain in the old English blood hound, and all dogs with 

 broad heads : this excellence or superiority of the olfactory 

 organs is further assisted by the largeness and flexibility of the 

 lips and skin about the nose, which thus admit of a much greater 



