THE MYSTERY OF SCENT. By Hugh B.C. Pollard.

1937 1st edition. 8vo (141 x 222mm). Ppxx,139. B/w photograph plates. Red cloth, spine titled in gilt.

" A practical contribution to its solution, for all hunting people". "The object of this book is to suggest a clearer line of thought about the age-old problem of scent. It is in the main a discussion of the relatively complex conditions which control the diffusion of scent, for we only discern scent by its diffusion. The line I have taken is to try to work out a perfectly simple instrument which will tell the hunting man exactly the percentage of chances of scent on any day at any time. It does. ...Despite the accuracy of this method of instrumental calculation there are plenty of points in this book which are open to the widest possible range of argument. It is almost impossible to 'prove' anything connected with the physiological side of scent, and the observer will always find an embarassing range of alternative possiblities. ...Anyway, this little book is an attempt to bring the scientific side of it rather closer to some modern scientific theories of our own time. Chapters include: The secretion of the scent; The diffusion of scent; The Scentometer; Adverse factors; The secret of scent; Scent and local conditions; How we smell; How hounds smell; Scent in other animals. Appendices are: Relative humidity in air; Simple hygroscopes. Uncommon in a dust-wrapper.