184 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



be traced. The great modern centres of industry in England 

 occupy a low relative position in the list, and are scarcely to 

 be noticed, but they are now beginning to contribute. He 

 affirmed that the literary class was produced from the edu- 

 cated class, and not from the illiterate classes. While no ed- 

 ucational effort will produce men of great genius, he inferred 

 that literary attainments are in relation to literary culture, 

 or the culture of the educated classes ; and that, by extend- 

 ing education to other classes of the population, the intel- 

 lectual capacity of the community will be extended and prop- 

 agated within certain limits. 12 A, June 22, 154. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE CAT. 



In a communication to the Academy of Sciences of Paris 

 Mr. Lenormant calls attention to the fact that the common 

 cat was introduced into Egypt at a comparatively late pe- 

 riod; so much so, indeed, that it is not mentioned at any 

 time in the Bible, and it is believed to be without a generic 

 name in Hebrew. It was unknown to the Assyrians and 

 Babylonians, and in their peculiar nomenclature the lion and 

 the panther were referred to the dogs for want of a different 

 point of comparison among their domestic animals. It was 

 not until the Semite period that we find any pictorial illus- 

 trations of this animal. Tardy as was its introduction, how- 

 ever, into Egypt, it seems to have been still later in getting 

 into Greece and Borne, delineations of it being entirely want- 

 ing on the monuments of these countries. Its place as an 

 exterminator of rats was supplied among the Greeks by the 

 fitch-marten, or European polecat, while the Romans made 

 use of another species of weasel for the same purpose. Ac- 

 cording to Professor Pictet, the names of the cat, in all the 

 European languages, do not belong to the earlier period of 

 the Aryan language, but are of a recent date, and derive 

 their origin from the Latin catus. As a domestic animal, 

 nevertheless, the cat was of decided antiquity in India, even 

 if unknown to the primitive Aryans. G J3,JVbv. 21, 738. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PIG. 



According to Mr. Lenormant, the pig was not known as a 

 domestic animal in the primitive civilization of Egypt. It is 

 not mentioned in the text either of the ancient or of the mid- 



