366 THE CAT. [chap. xi. 



ministers, wLicli arc now ordinarily referred to by the term 

 Psychology. Therefore it will be well, in studying the psychology 

 of the cat, to begin with such of its activities as may seem most to 

 resemble, and run parallel to, those human phenomena which arc 

 known to us by introspection, together with such others as may he 

 most nearly allied to, or more or less inextricably mixed up with 

 them. 



§ 2. We cannot of course, without becoming cats, perfectly 

 understand the cat-mind. Yet common sense abundantly suffices 

 to assure us that it really has certain affinities to our own. Indeed, 

 the cat seems to be a much more intelligent animal than is often 

 supposed. That it has very distinct feelings of pleasure or pain, 

 and keen special senses, will probably be disputed by no one. Its 

 sense of touch is very delicate ; its eyes are highly organized, and 

 can serve it almost in the dark, and its hearing is extremely acute. 

 It is obvious also that external and internal sensations — more or 

 less similar to those external and internal sensations of ours by 

 which we instinctively move from place to place, judge of distance 

 and direction, and perceive resistance and pressure — must be 

 possessed by the cat also. Were it otherwise, trees could not be 

 readily ascended in search of birds, leaps could not be accurately 

 taken and mice caught, walls could not be ascended and descended 

 by dexterous combinations of vigorous yet delicately adjusted springs 

 and graplings, nor could small apertures be skilfully passed through 

 in the admirable way in which all these complexly co-ordinated 

 movements are effected by the animal in question. The ease and 

 grace of motion in the cat, and its neat dexterity, are a common 

 subject of praise. Who has not observed how cleverly a cat will 

 avoid objects in its path — walking, perhaps, over a table set with 

 glasses and ornaments in not very stable equilibrium, without over- 

 setting any one of them. Every one knows also the great facility 

 with which the cat so turns in falling as almost always to alight 

 safely upon its feet. The animal's ordinary locomotion is a walk or 

 a spring. It rarely runs, save when it is pursued or alarmed, and 

 then it progresses by a series of bounds. When driven to it, it can 

 swim, though it takes to the water, or even endures a mere wetting, 

 with the greatest reluctance. Yet a cat has been seen voluntarily 

 to enter a small stream several times, in order to rescue its kittens 

 which had fallen into it. 



But the cat has not only external and internal sensations : the 

 facts just referred to cannot be explained without also granting that 

 it has memory, imagination, a power of sensible perception, and of 

 associating images in complex mental pictures Avhich are more or less 

 associated with pleasurable or i)ainful feelings — for unless a cat 

 perceived objects, it could not climb, jump, or pursue its prey. Nor 

 can we doubt, when tlu^ presence of a mouse causes the impression 

 of a patch of colour with a definite, familiar outline, on the retina of 

 an experienced cat, that immediately there is a revival of faint 

 antecedent similar imprcssfons, with relations of various kinds, and 



