210 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
sult, in any one case, depends on past experience, the stage of develop- 
ment, and much more that each reader will put into the case, according 
to his own views of physiology and psychology. 
Similar remarks may be made as regards the behaviour of the 
kitten towards the sand-pan. This little history illustrates, it seems to 
me, some of the fundamental laws of all training and education, whether 
applied to the human being or the lower animals. 
The case is simpler as regards the latter, but not wholly different, 
and observations of the kind made in this case impress me more than 
ever with the importance of attempting to give the fullest possible record 
of every feature in the psychic development and the physical develop- 
ment of those animals by which we are surrounded. 
The history of the kitten’s whole bearing towards the book-shelves 
has been to me a most instructive one. I have never witnessed such per- 
severance in the accomplishment of an object in any young animal—not 
excepting the child. It seemed that the greater the obstacles the greater 
the efforts the kitten put forth to overcome them—behaviour that we 
usually consider especially human, and ever an evidence of unusual 
strength of character. 
That this kitten was not an ordinary one in many respects I am 
quite prepared to believe, but still the animal was a cat, and a cat only, 
and that such “character” should have been shown was a surprise to 
one who has been a long and close observer of animals. 
I have seen something akin to this in that remarkable bird the par- 
rot, but not in a parrot so young as this kitten. 
One of the remarkable features in the whole group of the felidæ was 
illustrated in this kitten, viz., the slowness with which they learn to eat 
and drink, and the length of time before difficulties are fully overcome. 
A comparison of the kitten’s behaviour towards the parrot and the 
canary furnishes food for reflection, and in this, as in all such cases, all 
narrow explanations prove inadequate ; and while the laws of association, 
etc., may explain much, they do not seem to me to explain all in the 
case of the lower animals, any more than in the case of the child or the 
man. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
While there can be no doubt that cats are born deaf and blind, the 
question of smeli and taste is more difficult to settle. Up to the third 
day, and even then, there is no clear evidence of smell and taste, though, 
on the whole, it would appear that the facts in favour of the existence of 
smell are more certain than in the case of taste. 
There is evidence on the third day of reflex action, brought about 
through stimulation of the skin; of the existence of the ability to dis- 
tinguish hot and cold objects, and of capacity to suffer pain; though, as 
