Concerning Cats 



mon among cats. To quote once more from Mr. 

 Romanes's conclusions : — 



"In the understanding of mechanical appliances 

 cats attain to a higher level of intelligence than any 

 other animals, except monkeys, and, perhaps, ele- 

 phants. Doubtless it is not accidental that these 

 three kinds of animals come to be associated in this 

 particular. The monkey in its hands, the elephant 

 in its trunk, and the cat in its agile limbs provided 

 with mobile claws, all possess instruments adapted to 

 manipulation with which no other organs in the brute 

 creation can properly be compared, except the beak 

 and toes of the parrot, where, as we have already 

 seen, a similar correlation with intelligence may be 

 traced. Probably, therefore, the higher aptitude 

 which these animals display in their understanding 

 of mechanical appliances is due to the reaction ex- 

 erted upon their intelligence by these organs of 

 manipulation. But be this as it may, I am quite sure 

 that, excepting only the monkey and elephant, the 

 cat shows a higher intelligence of the special kind in 

 question than any other animal, not forgetting even 

 the dog. Thus, for instance, while I have heard of 

 only one solitary case (communicated to me by a cor- 

 respondent) of a dog which without tuition divined 

 the use of a thumb-latch so as to open a closed door 

 by jumping upon the handle and depressing the thumb- 

 piece, I have received some half-dozen instances of 

 this display of intelligence on the part of cats. These 



246 



