2 THE CAT. [CHAP. i. 



no means tlie limit of its powers of destruction. Its effect in putting 

 to flight tlic creatures it pursues, is again far in excess of its 

 destructive energy. Were every cat in England simultaneously 

 destroyed, the loss througli the entailed increase of vermin would 

 be enormous. 



§ 2. But however much this animal ma}'' deserve our esteem, or 

 win our admiration, by its shapely form and graceful movements, 

 it certainly has very special claims on the attention of lovers of 

 biological science. For in the first place its organization, considered 

 absolutely in itself, is one of singular perfection, and the adaptation 

 of means to ends which it displays is truly admirable. If, however, 

 we compare its organization with that of other animals, wo shall by 

 so doing not only gain a better appreciation of its structural per- 

 fections, but also become acquainted with a variety of relations 

 conveying useful lessons in anatomy, psychology,* and zoology, and 

 others referring to the past, the present, and even the future history 

 of this planet. 



§ 3. The " Common" (domestic) Cat of our country, and indeed 

 of the continent also, is not the " Common Cat " of zoology. The 

 latter is of course the originally native cat — or wild cat. The 

 domestic and the wild cat may, however, for our present purpose, be 

 considered together, and, thus considci'cd, the events of the last two 

 thousand years have strangely altered the distribution of the cats of 

 this country. 



That men dwell in cities, instead of in woods, is one effect of 

 civilization. A similar but greater change has been produced with 

 English cats by the same cause. For when Julius Caesar landed 

 here our forests were plentifully supplied with cats, while probably 

 not a single mouser existed in any British town or ^'illagc. The 

 word "cat" appears to be of Roman origin, being probably derivedfrom 

 the Latin word cafus, which word also seems to liave been at the same 

 time the root of the Greek Karra, the old German name rJiazza, and of 

 the softened French form of the word, cJud. The original derivation 

 of the name does not, however, appear to have been as yet ascertained. 

 It occurs in Anglo-Saxon writings with the spelling Catt. 



It might be supposed that our present domestic cat is simply our 

 own ancient wild cat tamed ; but had it been so and therefore been 

 easily procurable, it would not have been so highly valued as it was 

 even so late as a thousand years after the Roman invasion. But 

 though the domestic cat was thus rare, and therefore ]irccious, tlic wild 

 cat continued to bo common in England during the Middh^ Ages. 

 This is proved by the fact that its fur was then connnonly used for 

 trimming dresses. 



A canon, enacted in the year 1127, forbad any abbess or nun to 

 use more costly fur than that of lambs or cats, and tlio cat "was an 

 object of chase in ro}'al forests, as is shown by a license to hunt it of 



* The word Psj'cholofjy is hci"'' "sed in i its proper sense as embracing Physiologj' 

 ts wide and (as the iiullinr believes) in | within its scope. 



