CHAP, iv.] PHRENOLOGICAL DOCTRINE. 129 



" No ! " I believe that such people, though rare, still 

 are to be found. But this galvanic experiment, if suc- 

 cessful, would completely and practically baffle the old 

 tricks of the trade. We should only have to purchase 

 a lot of Pigeons, reverse their poles by galvanism, and 

 then turn them loose at once, fearless of the traps, 

 not of the seller, but of the breeders who sold them to 

 the seller, who, when lost Pigeons are inquired after, 

 is so seldom able to remember the name and address of 

 the parties from whom he had them. M, Temminck, 

 unfortunately writing on Domestic Pigeons not from 

 his own experience, but relying on Parmentier and 

 others does not say a word about the Carrier; an 

 omission in his valuable work which will render any 

 information I can communicate all the more welcome 

 to my readers. It is doubtful how far the faculty or 

 instinct of these birds would enable them to discover 

 their home through long intervals of unknown country, 

 where the space between, say, two of their horizons 

 from their highest elevation, is all fresh and devoid of 

 recognisable landmarks. It is usual not to trust to 

 such a power of discovery in birds that are to be em- 

 ployed on any important service, but to train them, by 

 taking them further and further from home. In con- 

 ducting this mode of education, many a time, when a 

 boy, have I gone out for a country walk, with two or 

 three Pigeons in my pocket, or wrapped up in a silk 

 handkerchief tucked under my arm, to be tossed off at 

 the furthest point of the excursion, and to be found at 

 home on my arrival there. 



Mr. George Combe, and the phrenological writers, 

 account for the feats performed by the Carrier and 

 other Pigeons, by supposing them to result from the 



