PART VII. 
THE CAT AND ITS DISEASES. 
ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 
THE admirer of the cat inquires about the origin of the 
graceful pet which sings on the rug or lies so com- 
SS fortably on the lap of its mistress, and he learns that 
“blue blood” runs in the veins of the large family, 
scientifically speaking, to which it belongs. It is 
Ja member of the great class of felidex, whose 
proudest representatives are the kingly lion and 
the royal tiger. In spite of much discussion, the 
question of the origin of the domestic cat is still 
without a satisfactory answer. It is very generally conceded that it descend- 
ed from either the cat of ancient Egypt or the wild cat, but authorities are 
pretty evenly divided upon the two parts of this question. Mr. Wood says, 
“as far as is at present known, the Egyptian cat is the origin of our do- 
mestic cat,” and we accept his conclusion, as well as his statement that it 
came to western and northern countries through Greece and Rome. 
That it was known in very early times is shown by many allusions to 
it in the books of the Sanscrit language, which date back thousands of 
years before the Christian era. In ancient Egypt it commanded a venera- 
tion which staggers our credence. We are told that a Persian king cap- 
tured an Egyptian city without opposition by resorting to the stratagem of 
giving a living cat to each soldier when going to battle, the enemy offering 
no resistance lest the sacred animal be killed. Stories of a like kind are 
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