Appetence and Emotion. 397 



of my own (the Eev. George H. R. Fisk, of Capetown) tells 

 me the following story (which may be added to the many 

 similar cases reported of dogs) concerning a favourite cat 

 he had as a boy. It happened that the children of the 

 house, my friend among the number, were confined to 

 their room by measles. Their mother remained with the 

 children by day and night until they were convalescent. 

 She then came down and resumed her usual daily life, but 

 was shocked at the appearance of the cat, which was little 

 more than skin and bones, and would not touch food or 

 milk. The cat seemed to know that Mrs. Fisk could help 

 her, and gave her no peace till she had taken her upstairs 

 to the convalescent patients. To Mrs. Fisk's surprise, the 

 cat snarled and beat the young master with her paws. 

 Why the cat chose this peculiar method of venting her 

 feelings it is difficult to say. But immediately afterwards 

 she went down into the kitchen, ate the meat and drank 

 the milk which she had before refused to touch. Early 

 next morning she mewed outside the young master's room ; 

 and, having gained admittance, sat at the foot of the bed 

 until he woke, and then licked his face and hair. 



This leads us on to the class of sympathetic emotions. 

 For the sympathetic emotions are those which centre, not 

 round the self, but round some other self in whose welfare 

 an interest is, in some way and for some reason, aroused. 

 Not long ago, at the Hamburg Zoological Gardens, I saw 

 two baboons fighting savagely. One at last retreated 

 vanquished, with his arm somewhat deeply gashed. He 

 climbed to a corner of the cage and sat down, moodily 

 licking his wound. Thither followed him a little capuchin, 

 and, though his bigger friend took mighty little notice of 

 his overtures, seemed anxious to comfort him, nestling 

 against him, and laying his head against his side. So far 

 as one could judge, it was not curiosity, but sympathy, 

 that prompted his action. 



The following example of sympathetic action on the 

 part of a dog towards a stranger-dog is communicated to 

 me by Mrs. Mann, a friend of mine at the Cape. Carlo 



