Cats. 



51 



Egyptians, who knew as much about magic as the wisest 

 of the moderns, certainly beheved that the cat had poo'r, 

 or they would not have mummified him with such pains- 

 taking conscientiousness. It may easily be imagined, 

 that in times when science did not exist, a creature whose 

 fur emitted lightnings when anybody rubbed it in the 

 dark, must have inspired great awe, and there is really 

 an air of mystery about cats which considerably exercises 

 the imagination. This impression would be intensified 

 in the case of people born with a physical antipathy to 

 cats, and there are such persons. A Captain Logan, of 

 Knockshinnock in Ayrshire, is mentioned in one of the 

 early numbers of Chambers' Journal as having this antip- 

 athy in the strongest form. He simply could not endure 

 the sight of cat or kitten, and though a tall, strong man, 

 would do anything to escape from the objects of his 

 instinctive and uncontrollable horror, climbing upon chairs 

 if a cat entered the room, and not daring to come down 

 till the creature was removed from his presence. These 

 mysterious repugnances are outside the domain of reason. 

 Many people, not without courage, are seized with involun- 

 tary shudderings when they see a snake or a toad ; others 

 could not bring themselves to touch a rat, though the rat 

 is one of the cleanliest of animals — not, certainly, as to 

 his food, but his person. It may be presumed that one 

 Mrs. Griggs, who lived, I believe, in Edinburgh, did not 

 share Captain Logan's antipathy, for she kept in her 

 house no less than eighty-six living cats, and had, besides, 

 twenty-eight dead ones in glass cases, immortalized by the 

 art of the taxidermist. If it is true, and it certainly is so in 

 a great measure, that those who love most know most, 

 then Mrs. Griggs would have been a much more com- 

 petent person to write on cats than the cold-minded author 



