i 883.] Psychology. 221 
most desperately against all feline intruders. In some one of his 
many encounters, Dido met with an injury to one of his feet that 
made a surgical operation necessary, from which he recovered, but 
shortly afterward went totally blind. A cataract was formed over 
each eye, by which, as repeated experiments proved, vision was 
thoroughly obscured. 
This calamity came on suddenly, and placed the cat in circum- 
stances not provided for by the ordinary gifts of instinct. What 
to do with himself was plainly a problem hard to be solved. He 
would sit and mew most piteously, as if bemoaning his condition ; 
and when he attempted to move about, he met with all the mis- 
haps that the reader will be likely to imagine. He ran against 
walls, fell down stairs, stumbled over sticks, and when once on the 
top rail of the fence, he would traverse its entire length seeking 
in vain for a safe jumping off place. On being called, he would 
run about bewildered, as if not knowing whence the voice came 
nor whither he should go to find the one calling. In short, Dido's 
life seemed hardly worth living, and we were seriously plotting 
his death, when the cat himself clearly concluded that he must 
make his other senses atone for the loss of sight. 
It was very curious to watch his experiments. One of the first 
of these was concerning the art of going down stairs. Instead of 
pawing the air,as he had been doing on reaching the top step, he 
went to one side till he felt the banisters touch his whiskers, and 
then, guided thus, he would descend safely and at full speed, turn- 
ing into the hall on gaining the last step. One by one he made 
each familiar path a study, determined the exact location of each 
door, explored anew all his old haunts, and seemed bravely re- 
solved to begin life over again. The result was so unexpectedly 
successful that we were decéived into the notion that sight had 
been restored. But by placing any obstacle in the path, and then 
calling him eagerly to his customary feeding place, it was evident 
that he was entirely blind, for he would run with full force against 
the box or other obstruction, and then, for some time afterward, 
he would proceed with renewed caution. 
_Dido’s “ voice is still for war,” and liis blindness does not make 
him any less successful in his duels with intruders. He even goes 
Jad in quest of adventures, and comes safely home again. 
His value as a mouser does not seem to be in the least dimin- 
ished. One of my experiments as to his capacity in this direction 
came near costing me dear. I had heard the gnawing ofa rat in 
an old closet where there lay a quantity of newspapers. Here it 
was decided to leave Dido over night, and while arranging the 
ees: for that purpose, my hand was suddenly caught by the 
eh and teeth of what at the moment seemed like a small tiger. 
‘or Dido! He really looked ashamed of his blunder in mis- 
“xing my hand for his anticipated victim. Fortunately the papers 
Bis ed as a shield, or the injury inflicted might have been more 
