The sense of smell is of the highest importance to the greater number of mammals—to some, as the ruminants, in warning them of danger; to others, as the carnivora, in finding their prey; to others, as the wild boar, for both purposes combined. But the sense of smell is of extremely slight service, if any, even to savages, in whom it is generally more highly developed than in the civilised races. 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. Those who believe in the principle of gradual evolution, will not readily admit that this sense in its present state was originally acquired by man, as he now exists. No doubt 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. We can thus perhaps understand how it is, as Dr. Maudsley has truly remarked,[29] that the sense of smell in man “is singularly effective in recalling vividly the ideas and images of forgotten scenes and places;” for we see in those animals, which have this sense highly developed, such as dogs and horses, that old recollections of persons and places are strongly associated with their odour. Man differs conspicuously from all the other Primates in being almost naked. But a few short straggling hairs are found over the greater part of the body in the male sex, and fine down on that of the female sex, In individuals belonging to the same race these hairs are highly variable, not only in abundance, but likewise in position: thus the shoulders in some Europeans are quite naked, whilst in others they bear thick tufts of hair.[30] There can be little doubt that the hairs thus scattered over the body are the rudiments of the uniform hairy coat of the lower animals. This view is rendered all the more probable, as it is known that fine, short, and pale-coloured hairs on the limbs and other parts of the body occasionally become developed into “thickset, long, and rather coarse dark hairs,” when abnormally nourished near old-standing inflamed surfaces.[31] I am informed by Mr. Paget that persons belonging to the same family often have a few hairs in their eyebrows much longer than the others; so that this slight peculiarity seems to be inherited. These hairs apparently represent the vibrissæ, which are used as organs of touch by many of the lower animals. In a young chimpanzee I observed that a few upright, rather long, hairs, projected above the eyes, where the true eyebrows, if present, would have stood.