740 C A 



never obtruded its company during meals. Its attach- 

 ment was thus quite disinterested, and no pains what- 

 ever had been taken to train it. These are but simple 

 circumstances, yet they show the inaccuracy of the 

 vulgar belief that " cats are attached only to places." 

 All animals which are either necessary or desirable 

 in a domestic state should have their due ; but it has 

 been too much the practice to elevate the character 

 of the dog at the expense of that of the cat, though 

 there is no question that a great deal of harmless 

 amusement and some instruction might be derived 

 from paying a little more attention to these, the most 

 domestic of animals. 



We would not, of course, propose any such ridicu- 

 lous association and discipline of cats as that which, for 

 a time at least, was practised by the late Lord Eldin 

 the Scotch Judge. He had a numerous colony, to whose 

 general accommodation he devoted a large apart- 

 ment, and had them duly fed and attended, endeavour- 

 ing to make them a happy as well as an orderly society. 

 Civil wars were, however, constantly breaking out 

 among them, to the disturbance of the neighbour- 

 hood ; and at last they became so noisy, that, at a 

 late hour one evening, he went in person to enforce 

 the necessity of observing the king's peace, even on 

 the part of his quadruped subjects. The Toms and 

 Tabbies, for the whole colony were up in arms, paid 

 not the least attention to the presence or admonition 

 of the learned gentleman. He retired, sent for his 

 clerk, and desired him to fetch the riot act from the 

 library. This being obtained, the two proceeded to 

 the territory of the conflicting cats, (he clerk with the 

 riot act, and the barrister (which Eldin then was) with 

 a horsewhip. After proclamation duly made, the 

 riot act was read with the necessary solemnity, and 

 the cats warned of the consequences if they did not 

 return to an orderly deportment before the expiry 

 of the statutable time. That time passed without any 

 abatement of the riot, upon which, the governor 

 bolted the door, and bestowed on them a hearty dis- 

 cipline with the whip ; but whether that tended to 

 the restoration of tranquillity is not mentioned. The 

 rest of the story, however, is strictly true. 



There is some amusement in watching the conduct 

 of a young cat with a looking glass. At first it paws 

 at the image, but not being able to touch it, it peeps 

 slily round the edge of the glass, as if to catch its 

 companion on the other side. It returns disappointed, 

 but again observing the image renews its attempt. 

 It continues to do this for some time, and then it 

 begins to extend its paws in a variety of directions, 

 and to put its body in a number of attitudes, watching 

 the corresponding motions of the image. After a 

 while, it sits motionless, still studying the image, and 

 retires when it is wearied. After this it is fond of 

 taking a peep in the glass, but it does not attempt 

 again to catch or play with the image. 



The glistening of cats' eyes in the dark, or rather in 

 dim light, is explainable upon the ordinary principles 

 of reflection, the light being thrown back from the 

 concave membrane, and does not, as has sometimes 

 been said, arise from phosphoric light produced 

 in the eyes themselves, which it is easy to see would 

 effectually prevent the vision of the animal. It is 

 only by the rays of light entering the eye that vision 

 is produced, and it is easy to perceive, that if a 

 stronger light than that which entered the eye came 

 out of it, there could be no perception of external 

 objects. 



T. 



The high state of electricity to which the fur on 

 the back of the cat can be excited, is a matter worthy 

 of more consideration than it has hitherto received, 

 because a carefid examination of it would probably 

 throw considerable light on the connexion between 

 electricity and the heat, and, more especially, the ex- 

 citability of these animals. It is probable that this pro- 

 perty belongs to the fur of all the feline race, espe- 

 cially to all those which have what is called dry hair, 

 that is, which have the fur so free from any oily sub- 

 stance, as to be readily injured by water. Hair of 

 this kind is a very bad conductor of electricity, and 

 as such, it can be made electric by friction ; and it is 

 well known that the electricity of the cat is much- 

 more easily excited in dry air than when the air is 

 damp, and still more easily excited when the animal 

 is placed on a stool with glass feet. Now, it will 

 readily be understood, that this non-conducting 

 power in the fur of the cat, must act as a barrier 

 between what goes on internally in the animal, and, 

 the external atmosphere, that, if great energy i?, by 

 any means, excited, this property of the fur must pre- 

 vent that energy from being dispersed in the air; 

 consequently, that the animal must, with the same 

 degree of original excitement,' be capable of much 

 greater exertion than if the fur were a conducting 

 substance. We find, not only that cats are capable 

 of being excited to more momentary efforts, than 

 almost any animals of the same muscular strength ; 

 but that, when enraged, their passions are much more 

 ungovernable then those of any other animals. A 

 cat much irritated is, in fact, perfectly frantic, alto- 

 gether disobedient to command, and altogether indif- 

 ferent to danger. The connexion between this sus- 

 ceptibility of being worked up to frantic action and 

 the non-conducting property of the fur, appears to be 

 well worthy of investigation, as one means of esta- 

 blishing the identity of animal action, and the action 

 of electricity, or, rather, the identity of all material 

 action, a truth, the full establishment of which would 

 be the most important point ever gained in science ; 

 and there are many circumstances well established by 

 experiments, performed by the most scientific and 

 careful experimenters, that point strongly to its esta- 

 blishment in other cases. It cannot yet, however, 

 be considered as legitimately within the province of 

 popular natural history, but it is worthy of the most 

 careful examination. 



The wild cat (F. catus ferns) is well known in 

 many parts of this country, and it is by no means rare 

 on the continent of Europe and in some parts of Asia. 

 It is much larger and stronger than the domestic cat ; 

 has the fur longer and more shaggy, the intestinal 

 canal shorter, and the heart and stomach not quite 

 so like those of the dog. It is a forest, at all events a 

 coppice, animal, and disappears before the progress 

 of population, though in agricultural countries it has 

 a tendency to linger even in comparatively small 

 plantations, as the small animals which collect about 

 the neighbourhood of the corn fields, afford it a 

 plentiful supply of food. It is, however, chiefly in 

 the wild woods of the mountains and rocky places 

 where it is chiefly met with in this country; and in 

 these it occasionally attains a size which is truly for- 

 midable. Individuals of more than four feet from the 

 nose to the tail are not uncommon, and some have 

 been met with as much as five feet. Its principal 

 food is the smaller mammalia, from the hare down- 

 wards, to which, however, it adds birds in great 



