ON THE SENSE OE SMELL IN HOGS. 
65 
Experiments on the Sense of Smell in Dogs. 
By Geokge J. Romanes, LL.D., E.R.3., E.L.S. 
[Read lGtli December, 1886.] 
Oe all the phenomena presented by the higher evolution of 
sense-organs in the Animal Kingdom, to my mind the most 
remarkable is the acuteness of olfactory perception which is 
exhibited by certain orders of Mammalia. All the other faculties 
of special sense are, so to speak, more evenly distributed through- 
out the vertebrated series ; so that when we compare our own 
sense of sight, of hearing, or of taste, with those of vertebrated 
animals in general, we at once recognize that they are comparable. 
But such is not the case with the sense of smell ; for in many of the 
Carnivora, Ruminants, &c.,this sense has undergone so enormous 
a development as to be suggestive of differing from our own, not 
merely in degree, but in kind. Any one, for example, who is ac- 
customed to deer-stalking must often have been freshly astonished 
at the precautions which it is needful to take in order to prevent 
the game from getting wind of the sportsman. Indeed, to a 
novice such precautions are apt to be regarded as implying a 
superstitious exaggeration of the possibilities of olfactory per- 
ception ; and it is not until he has himself seen the deer scent 
him at some almost incredible distance that he lends himself 
without disguised contempt to the direction of the keeper. Tet 
among the Carnivora the sense of smell is even more extraordi- 
nary. Here, for instance, is an observation upon the subject 
which I published several years ago, and which I now quote be- 
cause it led to the experiments which it is the object of this 
paper to detail: — 
“ I once tried an experiment with a terrier of my own which 
shows, better than any thing that I have ever read, the almost 
supernatural capabilities of smell in Dogs. On a Bank 
holiday, when the broad walk in Regent’s Park was swarming 
with people of all kinds, walking in all directions, 1 took my 
terrier (which I knew had a splendid nose, and could track me 
for miles) along the walk, and, when his attention was diverted 
by a strange dog, I suddenly made a number of zigzags across 
the broad walk, then stood on a seat, and watched the terrier. 
Rinding I had not continued in the direction I was going when 
he left me, he went to the place where he had last seen me, and 
there, picking up my scent, tracked my footsteps over all the 
