SCENT, &C. 14-5 



extension of the olfactory nerves, and render them more sus- 

 ceptible of external impressions. The olfactory nerves resemble 

 a bunch of small white cords, one end of which is connected 

 with the brain, while the other, descending the head, spreads 

 into numerous ramifications, reaching to the edges of the lips 

 as well as to the extremity of the nose. 



Hence the inferiority of the greyhound's sense of smell will 

 be easily perceived : his head is narrow, while his lips are thin 

 and compressed ; and in consequence of this inflexibility, and 

 the contracted structure of the head, that breadth and extension 

 of nerve are inadmissible, and to make up, as it might seem, for 

 this defect, nature has endowed him with a celerity which is not 

 to be met with in any other species of the dog. 



All dogs, therefore, with broad heads must possess superior 

 organs of smell ; but it does not appear that a narrow or sharp 

 nose presents any obstacle, as the main bulk of the olfactory 

 nerves are situated in the head ; but I think it is abundantly 

 evident, that a very long nose (like the greyhound) must always 

 be detrimental, since the impression of scent, externally caught, 

 must have farther to travel to the brain The wolf and the 

 fox have both sharp noses ; but their heads are remarkably 

 broad and capacious : their olfactory organs are unquestion- 

 ably exquisite. Experience, in fact, fully verifies these con- 

 jectures : the dogs most remarkable for exquisite sense of smell, 

 are equally distinguished for brood heads ; and the gradations 

 are easily to be traced : the talbot,* the original of all our mod- 



* To try whether a young blood hound was well instructed, a noble- 

 man (says Mr. Boyle) caused one of his servants to walk to a town 

 four miles off, and then to a market town three miles from thence. 

 The dog, without seeing the man he was to pursue, followed him by 

 the scent to the above-mentioned places, notwithstanding the multitude 

 of people going the same road, and of travellers that had occasion to 

 cross it. When the hound came to the chief market town, he passed 



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