54-4 SMELL. 



Angelo Poliziano says that after a battle a flock of famished 

 vultures arrived the next day from a distance of 166 leagues 

 to devour the bodies. But Mr. Audubon relates two experiments 

 to show that vultures are indebted to acuteness of sight rather 

 than of smell. He stuffed a deer's skin with hay, allowed it to be- 

 come as dry as leather, and placed it in a field : in a few minutes 

 a vulture made for it, attacked it, tore open the stitches, and 

 pulled out the hay. He then put a large dead hog into a ravine, 

 and concealed it with cane; it putrefied and gave forth an intoler- 

 able stench, but the vultures which were sailing about in all 

 directions in search of food never discovered it, although several 

 dogs had been attracted and had fed plentifully on it. He next 

 stuck a young pig and covered it closely with leaves : vultures 

 soon saw the blood, descended to it, and by its means discovered 

 the pig, which they devoured while still fresh. 



Whenever smell is naturally powerful, the organ and olfac- 

 tory nerves are greatly developed. In disease it may become 

 surprisingly acute. T. Bartholin mentions an individual, labour- 

 ing under dropsy, who could name the individuals in the next 

 room by smell. p The boy Mitchel, deaf and blind from his birth, 

 is described by Mr. Wardrop as having, probably from great use 

 and attention, so powerful a sense of smell, that. " when a stranger 

 approached him, he eagerly began to touch some part of his 

 body, commonly taking hold of the arm, which he held near his 

 nose, and after two or three strong inspirations, appeared to 

 form a sudden opinion regarding him. If this was favourable, he 

 showed a disposition to become more intimate, examined more 

 minutely his dress, and expressed by his countenance more or less 

 satisfaction : but, if it happened to be unfavourable, he suddenly 

 went off to a distance, with expressions of carelessness or of dis- 

 gust. 



P Acta Hafniensia. However, in the same work (vol. i. ) it is related by a 

 Dr. Marcus Marci, on his own testimony, that a priest at Prague could distinguish 

 incorrect from correct ladies by his nose. Yet this was not worse than the declar- 

 ation in London, a few years ago, of a once extensively employed insanity 

 doctor, that he could distinguish madmen by his nose, that madmen do not 

 smell like other people. 



q History of James Mitchel, $c. By James Wardrop. London, 1813. 



