257 
REVIEWS. 
THE CAT * 
I T was a happy conception on the part of Professor Mivart to teach 
natural history on the basis of careful study of a single type in each 
class of animals. In this he follows out the precept and example of Prof. 
Huxley, hut in a way that is entirely his own. The Cat appears to have 
been selected for study because, from the ease with which examples may be 
obtained, it is better suited for examination than any other animal, while 
many might anatomize the Cat who could have no opportunity of dissecting 
the human subject. In construction, the plan of the work is novel, in so far 
as the author presupposes no previous knowledge on the part of his reader, 
but provides him with the elementary physiology and anatomy necessary to 
appreciate the subjects discussed ; so that in parts the book has a curious 
appearance of mixing knowledge at once elementary and abstruse, which 
may disappoint the naturalist who anticipates an exhaustive monograph on 
the Cat, but is helpful to all beginners. The work is well written, well 
illustrated, clearly arranged, and is certain to exercise a great influence on 
the future study of biology, because this is the first time in which so many 
modes of regarding an animal have been presented simultaneously, and on 
the whole with such freedom from technicalities. Remembering that it is 
a book for students, it must be pronounced well done. 
The volume opens with a skilfully arranged introductory chapter, giving 
a zoological and historical account of the different domestic cats, and then 
passes on to define the several natural-history studies to which the Cat and 
its kindred may lead. Thus gently leading the reader, the author proceeds 
to consider the cat’s form and skin, or, as he prefers to term it, the external 
skeleton. Here we begin to make acquaintance with the elementary tissues 
connected with the skin and skeleton, which are excellently illustrated 
by well-drawn woodcuts, some of them devoted to illustrations of the 
teeth of the cat and tooth structure. At the third chapter the skeleton is 
reached. The vertebrae are fully described and well figured ; the skull is 
excellently drawn, and every bone figured in detail, showing internal and 
external aspects exactly as though the treatise concerned itself with the 
* The Cat. An Introduction to the Study of Back-boned Animals , 
especially Mammals. By St. George Mivart, Pli.D., F.R.S. With 200 
illustrations. 8vo. London: John Murray. 1881. 
NEW SERIES, YOL. V. NO. XIX. 
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