88 THE YEAR. 



mena of plants and animals are produced by certain 

 existing states of the weather ; and it is for man to 

 apply his observation and find out by what other states 

 these are followed. The cat does not wash her face 

 because it is to rain to-morrow ; that, in the first place, 

 would be " throwing philosophy to the cats ;" and in 

 the next place, it would be doing so to marvellously 

 little purpose, inasmuch as, if puss were thus informed 

 of the future, she would only have to wait a day in 

 order to get a complete washing without any labour or 

 trouble. When the cat performs the operation alluded 

 to, it is a proof that the present state of the atmosphere 

 affects her skin in a way that is disagreeable, and the 

 washing is her mode of relief; and, in as far as the cat 

 is concerned, that is an end of the matter. Man, how- 

 ever, may take it up, and if he finds that in all cases, or 

 in the great majority of cases, this happens only before 

 rain, he is warranted in concluding that the state of 

 the atmosphere which impresses this action upon the 

 cat, is also the state which precedes rain ; and that in 

 the cases where the rain does not follow, there has been 

 a subsequent atmospheric change which is also worthy 

 of his study. 



What it is in this case, and whether connected with 

 the little action in the fur of the animal by which elec- 

 tricity can be excited, we shall not enquire ; but in the 

 late roosting of the crows the cause is apparent : they 

 feed upon larvae and earth-worms ; these, especially the 

 latter, come most abroad in the evenings before rain ; 

 and as most animals gorge themselves, where food is 

 easily found, there is no reason why rooks should not 

 follow the general law. 



