380 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing-trougli ; and then stepped out, shook herself, and trotted qui- 

 etly home. She had been accustomed to seeing the fire put out 

 with water every night. 



Mr. J. Harvey Gibbons's cat, of University College, Liverpool, 

 when indisposed at one time, wandered strangely about the house, 

 with an evident inclination toward the coal-bunkers. They were 

 left open for her, and she went to them at once, and searched 

 among the coals till she found a piece covered with pyrites. She 

 licked this vigorously, and afterward returned regularly to the 

 bunkers for more of the medicine. Some powdered sulphur was 

 given her, and was accepted as a substitute for the pyrites. Un- 

 der this regimen she recovered her health. 



A most remarkable story illustrating this trait is told in the 

 Revue Scientifique by Dr. Cosmovici, of Roumania, concerning 

 his cat Cadi. We may remark that this gentleman appears to 

 have been a keen observer of intelligence in all animals. The 

 winter of 1880 was very cold, fuel was high, and our doctor had 

 to be economical. He was accustomed, therefore, after his morn- 

 ing fire had burned out, to work during the rest of the day 

 wrapped in furs, while Cadi sat at his feet. On one of the cold 

 days, Cadi would every once in a while go to the door and mew 

 in a tone quite distinct from that of his usual requests. Dr. Cos- 

 movici opened the door, and Cadi went half-way out, looking at 

 him the while. He shut the door and Cadi came back and mewed. 

 At last he gave himself up to the cat's desire and followed her. 

 She led him straight to the kitchen, and thence to the coal-box, 

 and got upon it without ceasing to look at her master. He got 

 coal. Cadi next showed him the way to the wood-box ; thence led 

 him back to his room, and, once within it, to the fireplace, where 

 she lifted herself up and arched her back. The fire was made, 

 while Cadi looked on, manifesting her approval of the operation 

 by caresses. When it began to burn, she stretched herself before 



it, satisfied. 







PREDISPOSITION, IMMUNITY, AND DISEASE. 



By W. BEENHAEDT. 



IT is a generally recognized fact that whole classes and fam- 

 ilies of animals, as well as single individuals, frequently are 

 liable to succumb to some influence apparently obnoxious to 

 health, while others, although exposed to the same danger, prove 

 exempt from such injury. This experience concerns the action of 

 vegetable and animal poisons, as well as the attacks of the various 

 diseases to which flesh is heir. Destitute of a satisfactory inter- 

 pretation of these divergences, we have recourse to the expression 

 "predisposition" for explaining the inability of offering resist- 



