300 Life and Immortality. 



no other Cat, not even one of her own offspring, would be 

 allowed such familiarities, as any attempt was sure to pro- 

 voke the most intense jealousy. Nor was I permitted to 

 lavish attentions upon any of her kith, for she would soon 

 become wrought up to a high pitch of excitement, and 

 instant vengeance would be wreaked upon the recipient of 

 my favors. 



Much more might be said about the Cat. It has its good 

 qualities and its bad qualities. There is hardly a trait of 

 character which the human animal possesses that it does 

 not possess. Of course I now speak of our Domestic Cat. 

 In the long-past times, when the Egyptian nation was at the 

 head of the civilized world, Felis maniculata, which is the 

 reputed origin of our Domestic Cat, was universally domes- 

 ticated in their homes, and it is not unknown the very high 

 position it held in the love and esteem of the people, for it 

 was deified and worshipped as a god. Even in England, 

 still later down in time, the Domestic Cat was so scarce 

 that royal edicts were issued for its preservation. Yet in 

 those days, A. D. 948, the wild Cat was rife in the British 

 Islands and was considered as a vicious animal, which must 

 be destroyed, and not a useful one to be protected by the 

 law. How we came into the possession of the Cat is a mat- 

 ter of conjecture, the current belief being that it was 

 imported from Egypt into Greece and Rome, and thence into 

 England. 



