THE XKVXK. 



197 



or into the sun. Notwithstanding this, furriers have found out a way for effectually purifying Skunk- 

 skins, which are now a good deal used as furs. In Britain, where the Skunk is not known in the 

 flesh, these furs are called by their right names, but in America, where the inhabitants do not enjoy 

 the same blissful ignorance of this noxious beast, they are dignified with the appellation of " Alaska 

 sable." 



But the scent of the secretion is not its worst feature. Sir John Richardson quotes Mr. Graham 

 as saying "that he knew several Indians who lost their eyesight in consequence of inflammation, 

 produced by this fluid having been thrown into them by the animal," and continues, " I have known 

 & dead Skunk, thrown over the stockades of a trading-port, produce instant nausea in several women, 

 in a house with closed doors, upwards of a hundred yards distant." Dogs often suffer from inflamma- 



tion of the eyes after being squirted with the fluid, and appear to be almost distracted with the pain. 

 Curiously enough, the secretion has been recommended as a cure for asthma. " The story is told of 

 an asthmatic clergyman who procured the glands of a Skunk, which he kept tightly corked in a, 

 smelling-bottle, to be applied to his nose when his symptoms appeared. He believed he had discovered 

 a specific for his distressing malady, and rejoiced thereat ; but on one occasion he uncorked his bottle 

 in the pulpit, and drove his congregation out of church." * 



The efficacy of the secretion as a defensive weapon for the not otherwise formidable animal is 

 greatly enhanced by the distance to which it can be ejected. This is probably as much as twelve or 

 fourteen feet, while the smell itself can be perceived for a comparatively immense distance. 



Besides its perfume, the Skunk has yet another claim to careful avoidance : its bite has been 

 known in many cases to produce hydrophobia, in a form quite indistinguishable, according to an 

 American surgeon, Dr. Janeway, from that induced by the bite of a rabid Dog. 



* Coues. 



