There is the pure, specific smell of the animal,
inherent in its flesh, or, as we shall see hereafter, in certain
portions of its flesh. This smell is best perceived when the flesh is
gently boiling in water. The broth thereby obtained contains the
specific taste and smell of the animal--I call it specific, because
every species, nay every variety of species, has its own peculiar taste
and smell. Think of mutton broth, chicken broth, fish broth, &c. &c. I
shall call this smell, the specific scent of the animal. I need not say
that the scent of an animal is quite different from all such odours as
are generated within its organism, along with its various secretions and
excretions: bile, gastric juice, sweat, &c. These odours are again
different in the different species and varieties of animals. The
cutaneous exhalation of the goat, the sheep, the donkey, widely differ
from each other; and a similar difference prevails with regard to all
the other effluvia of these animals. In fact, as far as olfactory
experience goes, we may say that the odour of each secretion and
excretion of a certain species of animals is peculiar to itself, and
characteristically different in the similar products of another species.
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