36 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



certain fishes, as in sharks. It is fairly well developed 

 in the two lower divisions of the mammalian series, namely, 

 in the monotremata and marsupials, and in some few of the 

 higher mammals, as in the walrus. But in man, the quad- 

 rumana, and most other mammals, it exists, as is admitted 

 by all anatomists, as a mere rudiment, called the semilunar 

 fold." 



The sense of smell is of the highest iinportance to the 

 greater number of mammals — to some, as the ruminants, in 

 warning them of danger; to others, as the carnivora, in find- 

 ing their prey; to others, again, as the wild boar, for both 

 purposes combined. But the sense of smell is of extremely 

 slight service, if any, even to the dark- colored races of men, 

 in whom it is much more highly developed than in the white 

 and civilized races. "^ Nevertheless it does not warn them of 

 danger, nor guide them to their food; nor does it prevent 

 the Eskimos from sleeping in the most fetid atmosphere, 

 nor many savages from eating half-putrid meat. ^ In Euro- 

 peans the power differs greatly in different individuals, as 

 I am assured by an eminent naturalist who possesses this 

 sense highly developed, and who has attended to the sub- 

 ject.^ Those who believe in the principle of gradual evolu- 

 tion will not readily admit that the sense of smell in its 

 present state was originally acquired by man as he now 

 exists. He inherits the power, in an enfeebled and so far 



85 Miiller's "Elements of Physiology," Eng. translat., 1842, vol. ii. p. 1117. 

 Owen, "Anatomy of Vertebrates," vol. iii. p. 260; ibid, on the Walrus, "Proc. 

 Zoolog. Soc," November 8, 1854. See also R. Knox, "Great Artists and 

 Anatomists," p. 106. This rudiment apparently is somewhat larger in Negroes 

 arid Australians than in Europeans; see Carl Vogt, "Lectures on Man," Eng. 

 translat. p. 129. 



^* The account given by Humboldt of the power of smell possessed by the 

 natives of South America is well known, and has been confirmed by others. 

 M. Houzeau ("^fitudes sur les Pacultes Mentales," etc., torn, i., 1872, p. 91) 

 asserts that he repeatedly made experiments, and proved that Negroes and 

 Indians could recognize persons in the dark by their odor. Dr. W. Ogle has 

 made some curious observations on the connection between the power of smell 

 and the coloring matter of the mucous membrane of the olfactory region, as 

 well as of the skin of the body. I have, therefore, spoken in the text of the 

 dark- colored races having a finer sense of smell than the white races. See his 

 paper, "Medico-Chirurgical Transactions," London, vol. liii., 1870, p. 276. 



