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, Fels mantculata, 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. 
