i88i.] 
A Defence of the Dog. 
97 
that many animals have the faculty of evolving certain very 
perceptible odours when excited or irritated. All that would 
be required would be an extension of this faculty so far as to 
allow of a sufficient variety of odours being given off to 
constitute the elements of a code. That the dog is able to 
convey his emotions in some such way appears certain from 
the conduct of dogs when they meet. Except in cases 
where there is an old-established feud or friendship they 
invariably go through certain preliminary observations of 
canine etiquette, and not until these are punctiliously per- 
formed do they proceed to demonstrations of friendship, or 
overt aCts of hostility. Somehow, they seem empowered to 
carry an insult or a welcome, to express enmity or amity. 
Whether a dog forms his opinion of another by his smell, as 
we judge a person “ by their looks,” one cannot decide, but 
certainly the nose and not the eye seems to be the critical 
organ. 
I agree with the writer of “ A Dog’s Universe ” that it is 
unphilosophical to account for his power of taking a straight 
route to a place from which he was brought by an indirect: 
one, by ascribing to him a special “ sense of direction.” 
Then this animal seems to have the power (which we do not 
possess, except to an extremely limited extent) of discovering 
the exaCt direction from which an odour is coming. Human 
beings, of course, discern direction infinitely better by sight 
than by any other sense. We may be able to tell the 
direction from which an odour comes if the source is a few 
feet off, that of a sound although a good many yards off. 
But as to both direction and distance we are best informed 
by sight. Dogs do not seem to see things at a distance 
very clearly, and often appear at a loss as to the exaCt locus 
of a sound, although its origin is no great way from them. 
It follows from these faCts that they must get their notions 
of direction from odours. A trail, I suspeCt, is as distinct to 
a dog’s nose as the track of a steamboat or footsteps on 
snow are to our eyes. Hence I would explain the case of 
the hound which, according to Dr. Bastian, “ was sent from 
a place in County Dublin to another in County Meath, and 
thence, long afterwards, conveyed to Dublin Town,” and 
which from thence found his way in a direCt line to his native 
kennel, by saying, that some day, when the wind was blowing 
from that quarter, a whiff of the scents familiar to his puppy- 
hood was carried to him, and he was seized with home- 
sickness, and forthwith set off in the right direction. 
Whether he travelled by road or across country I do not 
know. If he went by road he might be assisted by the trail 
