NOSES. 
W. E. WATT. 
THE Rev. Sam Jones says of a 
trained bird dog that he once 
saw in the tall grass jumping 
up to get signals from his mas- 
ter's hand, moving to the right or left, 
or lying down without a word spoken: 
"When I saw the faithfulness of that 
animal in carrying out the wishes of 
its human master I was ashamed of 
myself in the presence of the dog." 
A hunting dog is busy with eye and 
ear. Every nerve seems strained to 
catch the slightest indication of game. 
But those who know the dog best 
know he is mainly occupied with his 
nose. That delicate organ dilates and 
adjusts itself constantly to every breath 
of air. 
The bird dog knows of the presence 
of a game bird before he can see it. 
He scents its location at long range. 
He is trained to "stand" when he 
recognizes the scent. With one paw 
lifted, his nose and tail stretched out 
to their greatest reach, he points his 
master to the spot where the game is 
to be found. At the word of command 
he moves cautiously forward towards 
the bird, and when his master is ready 
another word causes the dog to "flush" 
the bird, or make it take wing. 
The hound upon the track of fox or 
deer has remarkable power, not only 
of following the exact track made by 
the pursued animal, even when ,some 
hours have elapsed since the game 
passed that way, but his scent is so 
keen that in many instances he is able 
to tell, when he comes upon such a 
track, which way the deer or fox was 
running. Sometimes the hound "takes 
the back track," but the best dogs are 
usually so positive in this sense that 
they make no mistakes as to which 
way the animal has traveled. 
It is common knowledge, but none 
the less marvelous, that an ordinary 
dog is usually able to follow his mas- 
ter by scent alone through the crowded 
streets of the city or across fields 
where a thousand fragrant flowers and 
grasses seem to arise on purpose to 
baffle him." 
This marvelous power is not con- 
fined to dogs. Many other animals 
possess it in a remarkable degree. The 
keenness of this sense in deer, ante- 
lopes, and other wild ruminants is so 
well known that hunters despair of 
ever approaching them except from 
the side which gives them the wind in 
their faces so that their own peculiar 
scent may be carried away from the 
extremely sensitive nostrils of their 
game. The hippopotamus has this 
sense highly developed and can dis- 
cover his human enemy without get- 
ting sight of him or hearing his ap- 
proach. 
The polar bear climbs upon an ice- 
berg and sniffs afar the dead whale 
floating his way, although still miles 
toward the horizon. The camel in the 
desert is often saved from death by the 
keenness and accuracy of his olfactory 
organs, which tell him the direction he 
must take to fill his depleted reservoir 
with water. 
The North American Indian smells 
as keenly as he sees, for he can not 
only detect the presence of human be- 
ings by his nose alone, but also surely 
tell whether they are of his own or the 
suspected white race. In the Massa- 
chusetts Asylum for the Blind was a 
mute girl named Julia Brace, who 
knew her friends and acquaintances by 
the peculiar odors of their hands. Not 
being able to see them or converse 
with them, she was compelled to dis- 
tinguish them by the sense of 
smell alone. So remarkable were her 
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