40 WILD CAT AND DOMESTIC CAT. 



in a state of domestication. Its utility in pursuing and 

 destroying the vermin, such as mice and rats, which 

 infest our dwellings, have long rendered it a favourite in 

 almost all countries where it is known. In Egypt these 

 animals were formerly objects of sacred veneration;! 

 and wilfully to destroy a cat was considered a capital 

 offence. Herodotus states, that whenever a cat died a 

 natural death, the inhabitants of the house were accus- 

 tomed to shave their eye-brows, in token of sorrow; 

 and the animal so dying was embalmed and nobly 

 interred. The disposition of the Cat differs greatly from 

 that of our other domestic, the dog. The latter is mild 

 and generous, and the former oftentimes treacherous and 

 intractable. When young, it is one of the most active 

 and playful of all creatures; but, as it grows up, it 

 becomes gradually more and more sedate, until at 

 length, it entirely loses its frolicsome propensities. Few 

 animals are so tenacious of life as Cats. It has even i 

 been supposed that a Cat was able to sustain nine times 

 the injuries which would kill any other creature. They 

 are also capable of living, for a very great length of time, 

 without food. An instance occurred, in the year 1781, 

 of a Cat having been accidentally shut up, without nou- 

 rishment, for twenty-four days, at the end of which time 

 she was found still alive. These creatures are likewise 

 endowed with the singular property of alighting on their 

 feet, when they fall from a height. Being nocturnal 

 animals, or such as are awake and on the alert for prey 

 chiefly during the night, they are able to perceive objects, 

 although not, as is usually supposed, in perfect darkness, 

 yet certainly with much less light than most other animals. 

 This is owing to the peculiar structure of their eyes: 

 the pupil, or dark-coloured part in the centre, being 

 contracted to a mere line in the broad day-light, and 



