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.* Nevertheless it does not warn
them of danger, nor guide them to their food; nor does it prevent
the Esquimaux from sleeping in the most fetid atmosphere, nor many
savages from eating half-putrid meat. In Europeans the power differs
greatly in different individuals, as I am assured by an eminent
naturalist who possesses this sense highly developed, and who has
attended to the subject. Those who believe in the principle of gradual
evolution, will not readily admit that the sense of smell in its
present state was originally acquired by man, as he now exists. He
inherits the power in an enfeebled and so far rudimentary condition,
from some early progenitor, to whom it was highly serviceable, and
by whom it was continually used. In those animals which have this
sense highly developed, such as dogs and horses, the recollection of
persons and of places is strongly associated with their odour; and
we can thus perhaps understand how it is, as Dr. Maudsley has truly
remarked,*(2) that the sense of smell in man "is singularly
effective in recalling vividly the ideas and images of forgotten
scenes and places."
* The account given by Humboldt of the power of smell possessed by
the natives of South America is well known, and has been confirmed
by others. M. Houzeau (Etudes sur les Facultes Mentales, &c., tom. i.,
1872, p. 91) asserts that he repeatedly made experiments, and proved
that Negroes and Indians could recognise persons in the dark by
their odour
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