The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1856-12-17
Reason and Instinct Of Animals.
BY THE HON. GRANTLEY. BERKELEY.

We are puzzled to account for scent
or the power of tracing things by nose
or to set it down as mere SMELL for this
reason-a hoand will trust his nose into
and cover his lips with all sorts of fetil
carrion BY the roadside, till the refuse
matter with which he is externally and
| INTERNALLY laden taints the surrounding air,
and is SO perceptible to man that the nose
of man is disguised. In this fetid state
the hound will hunt out and trace at
speed the footstep or scent of a hare, but
which hare, even if the man goes to the
form she has been sleeping in and has inst
left warm from the pressure other limbs,
cannot in the remotest degree be smelt by
him. Scent. therefore, is not merely,
smell; if it was, it must be interfered with
by scents of different nature, and of
Infinitely greater power What the fact
| is, then, that serves the hound must be a
mystery, and the capabiity of tracing it
evidently arises from the more peculiar
gifts than are generally supposed.
| Now, suppose we take an otter recent
ly killed: man can discover very little, if
any smell arising from the beautiful fur
and form of that creature; while if you
take a fox that is recently killed the smell
Of that animal is very strong-so much
so, that the hand of man will be tainted
by its mere touch; yet to the hound the
scent of the Ito man apparently scent
less animal, the otter, is tenfold stronger
and more capable Of detection than is the
smell of the absolutely sinking animal,
the fox Therefore, the line left by crea-
lures, enabling the hound in some weathers
TO follow it at the top of his speed, must
be gift of nature more mysts rious than
the simple act of smelling. 1t undoubt-
edly is q power imbibed through the or
gans of the nose; but to what that power
extends, at present, we have no means of
judging. -s.ll...rI
A question has often arisen in my mind
as to whether the scent, or line of trace,
left by an animal, arises from the breath
or simply from the foot or whether it
comes from sources of combination. The
breath of an animal enables q hound to
hunt and speak to its presence or to its
whereabout, as proved by the bubbles or
chain of the otter arising, when the ami
mai is ten feet and upwards below the sur
face of the water.
The foot or slot of deer holds a scent
in itself, as proved oy the bloodhound
Druid. When on very stale "slots," he
slightly disturbs the crust of the impress,
sion purposely with his paw, to assist him
in ascertaining its freshness. The breath
and the foot of an animal combined have
certainly, therefore, to do with the power
derived by the hound; but, in my opinion,
there is some other adjunct and occult
principle, which has not yet been ascer-
tanned. This fact is established, that t-the
strongest smelling animals those emitting
taints to the air quite evident. to man, are
II 1t the animals the strong est or sweetest
| in the oifactory organs of the hound.
That the scent floats ON the air is proved
by pointers and settlers winding feathered
game at long distance, and when the
wind serves him, by Druid s going straight
up TO u deer at Il gallop, who is lying in, a
lair mile OFF; also by foxhounds running
a fox, or by hounds running a deer, shut
out from their sight by a thick .hedgerow,
and from whose footsteps they are abso-
utey divided. The organ Of detection
through the olfactory nerves enables dog
to trace his master among million men;
therefore, there must be some other at
tribute than the simple act of smelling /:
for. though there are different degrees Of
smells, and, SO to speak, some men are in
initely sweeter than others, still the faint
is mach the same, and to man sufficiently
remarkable to serve as a guide to detec-
tion. Again, the fact of a drag" be-
fore hounds, whence there is no living
principle of breath, proves that hounds
will run mere stencil: so repeat there
is no possibility of defining what it is tha,
induces or enables the hound to follow that
which, living or dead, he has thus the
Ipower Of pursuing. --....-..rf ~, >
c15@The editor of the WuOysocie Of