196 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
animals of the Cat kind. From what it may arise in this 
instance, I am entirely at a loss to determine. 
We have heard a great deal about the treacherous and 
unkindly disposition of the Cat, but I am inclined to think 
it is most generally the result of ill usage. I have been in 
the habit of playing with Quin, and often somewhat rough- 
ly, more especially when he was younger and more vola- 
tile; and though he has sometimes laid violent paws on 
me, I believe he never gave me an intentional scratch, 
unless when I happened to hurt him, and frequently not 
even then. I have repeatedly suffered him, besides, to take 
my hand into his mouth; and although he has often bitten 
it playfully with considerable force, yet I think he never 
drew blood, nor used his teeth upon me except with the 
most harmless motives. To children visiting the house, 
he has generally exhibited a peculiar partiality, and has 
sometimes played hide and seek with them, almost as 
knowingly as the little romps themselves. 
This, however, may perhaps be deemed a merely nega- 
tive quality; but he has sometimes shown what I am dis- 
posed to call a positive kind of affection. He frequently 
meets me as I leave my chamber in the morning, and in 
his peculiar way, which is to be sure somewhat odd and 
uncouth, endeavours to show his pleasure and regard. On 
one occasion, when one of the female domestics, for whom 
he had a great partiality, was sick, he made his way into 
her chamber, and finding her on the bed, raised himself 
up at her side by his fore paws, as if to inquire why she 
was there. Though not generally fond of being nursed, 
he sometimes becomes exceedingly loving, and will insist 
on nestling in the lap of some one of his favourites about 
the house. From all I have been enabled to observe, I 
am therefore inclined to the belief, that, although the Do- 
mestic Cat does not afford so decided an exhibition of 
fidelity and affection a's is frequently observed in the cha- 
racter of the dog species, it is not, nevertheless, so entire- 
ly devoid of all kindly feeling and attachment as is some- 
times uncharitably supposed. I imagine that good and 
gentle treatment will in the main be found to produce the 
same result of gratitude and regard in both, though most 
probably not precisely in an equal degree. The character 
of the one animal for fidelity is established, while that of 
the other is calumniated for the reputed want of it, and 
this very circumstance may have considerable effect in 
developing the disposition for which they are respectively 
praised and censured. 
The desultory remarks here thrown together are heartily 
at your service, if you think a few occasional observa- 
tions of the habits and manners of an individual cal- 
culated in any measure to elucidate the character of the 
kind. W. 
A FOUNTAIN OF PETROLEUM, CALLED THE 
OIL SPRING. 
By Professor Silliman. 
The Oil Spring, as it is called, is situated in the west- 
ern part of the county of Alleghany, in the State of New- 
York. This county is the third from Lake Erie, on the 
south line of the state — the counties of Cataraugus and 
Chatauque lying west and forming the south-western ter- 
mination of the State of New-York: the Spring is very 
near the line which divides Alleghany and Cataraugus. 
Being in the county of Alleghany, I was indebted to 
the kindness of a friend, who, on the 6th of September, 
took me from Angelica to the Spring. After crossing the 
Genesee River, our ride was to the town of Friendship, 
six miles; then to Cuba, eight miles; and thence, into the 
township of Hinsdale, three and a half miles; making se- 
venteen and a half miles from Belvidere, the seat of Philip 
Church, Esq., and twenty-one miles from Angelica vil- 
lage. The place will be found, without difficulty, by 
taking a guide at Hick’s tavern, which is on the corner 
of the road from Cuba, where it is intersected by the 
road to Warsaw, two miles west of Cuba. The last half 
mile is in the forest; a road is cut, for the greater part of 
the way, through the woods, but the path becomes, finally, 
an obscure foot track, in which a stranger, without a guide, 
might easily lose his way, or at least fail of finding the 
object of his search. 
The country is rather mountainous, but the road run- 
ning between the ridges is very good, and leads through a 
cultivated region, rich in soil and picturesque in its scene- 
ry. Its geological character is the same with that which 
is known to prevail in this western region; a siliceous 
sandstone, with shale and in some places limestone, is the 
immediate basis of the country; the sandstone and shale, 
(the limestone I did not see,) lie in nearly horizontal 
strata; the sandstone is usually of a light gray colour, and 
both it and the shale abound with entrocites, encrinites, 
corallines, terebratulee, and other reliquiae characteristic 
of the ancient secondary or transition formation. 
The Oil Spring or fountain rises in the midst of a marshy 
ground; it is a muddy and dirt} 7 pool, of about eighteen 
feet in diameter, and it is nearly circular in form. There 
is no outlet above ground — no stream flowing from it, and 
it is of course a stagnant water, with no other circulation 
than that which springs from changes of temperature, and 
from the gas and petroleum which are constantly rising 
through the pool. 
We were told that the odour of petroleum is perceived, 
at a distance, in approaching the Spring; this may, not 
