THE CAT TO-DAY 277 



in young children. It moderates in middle age, 

 when habits of meditation have superseded the 

 gayety and vigilance of kittenhood ; but that its ex- 

 istence should be denied and ridiculed by so acute 

 an observer as the Abbe Galiani, proves the formi- 

 dable strength of preconceived opinions. "Man 

 alone," says the Abbe, " knows what it is to be cu- 

 rious. Animals have no share in this sensation. 

 We can inspire them with fear, .but never with 

 curiosity." 



It is not fear, however, which makes a kitten 

 watch with breathless interest the unfastening of a 

 parcel, and clutch at the paper and string until the 

 contents are shown to her. It is not fear which 

 sends her peeping into half-open drawers, or which 

 rivets her attention when a box-lid chances to be 

 lifted in her presence. If she be not curious, why 

 does she jump on the sill, the minute a window is 

 raised ; or creep to the door, to see who is going 

 upstairs ; or inspect the multitudinous contents of 

 a desk as gravely as if she were making an inven- 

 tory? Voltaire recognized curiosity as a dominant 

 trait in all intelligent animals ; and Rousseau drew 

 a close analogy between a curious kitten surveying 

 a strange room, and a no less curious child making 

 its first bewildering acquaintance with the world. 



Gratitude is another sentiment which sceptics 

 have denied to the cat, and which is certainly not a 



