6140 



Scent. 



pellet or two of dung and, possibly, a few drops of urine may be seen 

 in a great number of places : the fox seems to have moved in 

 a devious sort of way, but never at a greater pace than a fast walk or 

 gentle trot, and much the same is true of the stoat or foulmart: the 

 latter animals, too, as well as the hare and, the rabbit void their ex- 

 crement and urine at night. Deliberate motion then, the processes 

 of defecation often interrupted, as often renewed, the favorable hygro- 

 metric conditions of the nocturnal atmosphere, all of them circum- 

 stances, as we have seen, tending to produce and to conserve a strong 

 scent, in accordance with the principles we have endeavoured to set 

 forth and illustrate in the former portion of our paper, are all conco- 

 mitants of the deposition of the most permanent "scents" we have 

 any knowledge of. The principal " waste " of the system takes 

 place, under ordinary circumstances, during the night in all animals 

 whose habits are nocturnal. This is one important source of scent, 

 and in the most favorable form of operation during their night-long 

 rambles. Another is in a measure dependent on the emission of their 

 faeces, liquid and solid ; this, too, is in operation : while the effect of 

 both, and of what may be called the permanent faetor of their skins or 

 fur, is raised to its greatest pitch by the deliberate character of their 

 movements, which at the same time allows the greatest possible 

 quantity of the scent matters to be attracted, and, in a sense, fixed by 

 all the suitable substances in the vicinity of which the animal passes. 



1 think 1 have now noticed all the facts and conclusions which 

 have, at different times, presented themselves to my regard when 

 thinking about the nature and peculiarities of scent. In conclusion, 

 I shall only briefly observe, that in whatever degree the statements 

 above made on the authority of eminent physiological writers are ad- 

 mitted to be well founded and in accordance with fact, in the same 

 degree is the weakness of the Retention Theory displayed and itself 

 shown to be untenable. The animal, whether feathered or four- 

 footed, which under the influence of its emotions — terror being one of 

 them — is irresistibly constrained to give out more than usual of its 

 peculiar or natural odour, can under no circumstances be supposed 

 capable of repressing or preventing the emanation of that odour, 

 and least of all when acted upon by fear or apprehension, if not down- 

 right terror. And further, if our conclusions as to the compound 

 nature of scent, so far, that is, as its origin and its elements or 

 constituents are involved, are admitted to be reasonable and just, the 

 utter impossibility, on physical grounds^ of voluntary retention by any 



