ON THE PHILOPKOGENITIVENESS OP THE CAT. 347 



irom her. This time a nest of young Rabbits was found ; they were put beside 

 her : as I have stated, she takes every care of them, and in all probability 

 they will attain maturity under her fostering care. 



This case is the more curious as Cats may be considered generally great enemies 

 to Rabbits ; which indeed may be accounted amongst their natural food, as also 

 may birds. Yet we see in this instance the propensity to destroy, often so 

 strongly manifested by Cats, give way to that of love of young. 



We have been told by a respected and lamented philosopher, that nothing is 

 more suited to throw light upon the power and constitution of the mental fa- 

 culties than the study of their manifestations in the lower animals. Mixed mo- 

 tives and the influence of circumstances are less likely to operate upon them 

 than on man. Now the case before us is evidently not one of an ordinary kind ; 

 every animal of the species would not so have adopted the young of other ani- 

 mals, and nursed them with affection. I have heard before of Cats nursing 

 leverets, and White mentions his having known them suckle Squirrels. These 

 cases, however, are uncommon, and as such become questions of interest, the 

 philosophic observer always expecting an efficient cause for every deviation from 

 the general law of Nature. In the first place we have to observe here, that 

 amongst the inferior animals there is a difference in the strength of feelings ma- 

 nifested, as well as in the more exalted animal, man. The question then comes, 

 have we to look to the influence of habit or circumstances for this difference ob- 

 servable amongst them ? What habits or circumstances can have acted upon 

 animals left wholly to themselves, as has been the case with the Cat above 

 spoken of. It has never been accustomed to Rabbits or birds (I made particular 

 enquiry on this head), yet it would adopt and nurse their young with its own. 

 I have known animals, on the other hand, where the disposition to destroy was 

 so great that they never could be taught to give up the desire of possessing 

 themselves of birds that were kept in cages in the house with them, though 

 strong measures were often taken to frighten them from making such attempts ; 

 and also have seen the like eagerness displayed for Rabbits. 



In these cases circumstances could not be made to have effect, so as to place 

 the one animal out of danger from the other. Who then can contend that cir- 

 cumstances alone effect those different dispositions which are not only observable 

 in man, but also extend to the lower animals, even to such an extreme as we 

 have here related ? It is then to constitutional tendency we must look for the 

 cause of those differences ; and Phrenology is the only doctrine that can clearly 

 and satisfactorily explain such phenomena — contradictions in Nature. Dr. Gall 

 observed, that there was a great difference between the crania of the male and 

 female amongst all the lower animals, in the part he considered to be the organ 

 of the love of young, or Philoprogenetiveness. I have myself repeatedly observed 



