522 
Jottings on Odours, [September, 
smell and taste which was astonishing to her friends. Her 
verdidt as to the wholesomeness and purity of a water- 
supply was often of more than analytical accuracy. 
But the lower mammalian animals have, as compared 
with man, a further advantage in the use of the sense of 
smell. Most of them can with ease bring the nose in con- 
tact with the ground, or with other low objedts, which we 
can smell at only by dint of the tedious process of stooping, 
or by lifting the objedt up to our face. Hence, in virtue of 
the triple advantage above mentioned, they can at once 
decide if an enemy or a desired prey have recently crossed 
their path, and left its specific emanations on the ground or 
in the air. They live, in fadt, in a world of odours, just as 
we live in a world of sights ; and just as our eyes are always 
conveying to us information, so are they constantly receiving 
impressions through their noses. An unwonted smell, too 
slight even to attract our notice, is to them as significant as 
an inexplicable noise or a strange sight is to us. What 
wonder, therefore, if they are disturbed thereby, and at once 
put upon their guard ? 
A few remarks may be needful on the odours given off by 
animals. In some cases— as that of the skunk and the 
common water-snake- — they are offensive and defensive 
weapons, consciously used under circumstances of danger. 
There are other cases where the specific odour may aid 
gregarious animals in finding their way back to their com- 
panions, or in recognising their mates of the other sex. But 
it is at least questionable whether, in some instances, the 
odour of an animal, whilst not powerful enough to repel 
enemies, may not serve to inform them of its presence, and 
put them upon its track. I have never been able to see what 
benefit the fox derives from his very strong odour. Let us 
suppose that a strain of foxes were to be developed in this 
country whose scent should be only one-fourth part as intense 
as that of the ordinary Reinecke : would not such strain, in 
virtue of the greater difficulty of following its scent, elude 
the hounds in a far greater number of cases, and in conse- 
quence be likely to gain ground upon, and ultimately to 
supplant, the ordinary loud-smelling breed ? It may of 
course be argued that the scent of the fox does not expose 
him to any danger save the artificial one of a pack of hounds, 
and that fox-hunting has not been in existence long enough 
for a less odorous strain to be evolved. 
The perfumes of plants, and especially of their flowers 
and fruits, were till lately left out of consideration as .quite 
unaccountable, or were — what amounts to the same thing — 
