1881J Analyses of Boohs . 487 
all necessary illustrations, microscopical and anatomical. The 
tenth chapter is devoted to Embryology, and is quite as complete 
and exhaustive of the subject as the preceding treatise on 
Structure. 
The Psychology of the Cat is treated of in a more extended 
sense than is usually applied to the term. In the author’s words 
it denotes “ the study of all the activities, both simultaneous and 
successive, which any living creature may exhibit,” and does not 
merely signify mental states. With regard to the latter part of 
the subjeCt, the “ Cat-mind,” a quotation will best explain the 
author’s views : — 
“ We cannot of course, without becoming cats, perfectly un- 
derstand the cat-mind. Yet common sense abundantly suffices 
to assure us that it really has certain affinities with our own. 
Indeed the cat seems to be a much more intelligent animal than 
is often supposed. That it has very distinCt feelings of pleasure 
or pain, and keen special senses, will probably be disputed by no 
one. Its sense of touch is very delicate ; its eyes are highly 
organised * and can serve it almost in the dark, and its hearing 
is extremely acute. It is also obvious that external and internal 
sensations, more or less similar to ours, by which we move in- 
stinctively from place to place, judge of distance and direction, 
and perceive resistance and pressure, must be possessed by the 
cat also. The ease and grace of motion in the cat, and its neat 
dexterity, are a common subject of praise.” Much more in this 
chapter as to the high mental endowments of the cat, but, how- 
ever interesting the subjeCt, the temptation t© quote further must 
be resisted : it is only to be regretted that additional information 
respecting cat-life has not appeared in an appendix. 
Then follows a description of fifty species of living cats, and 
also a full account of fossil species, which appear to have been 
somewhat numerous. This chapter is liberally illustrated. 
The chapter on the Cat’s place in Nature, in which the author 
answers the question “ What is a cat ?” is a grand lesson in 
classification. After disposing, in a brief manner, of the differ- 
ences between minerals and organised beings, the vegetable 
kingdom is separated from the animal. The lower animal king- 
* Page 2go, after describing, the structure of the choroid and its lining with 
a layer of dark pigment cells, excepting at a part called the tapetum, “ a 
roundish patch occupying most of the back of the inside of the choroid, and 
including within it the entrance of the optic nerve. It is this tapetum which 
gives the eyes of cats that luminous appearance in obscurity, by reflecting the ’ 
light — a property which is supposed to assist their noCiurnal vision.” 
“ At my request Mr. Henry Power has been so kind as to examine the cat’s 
eye with the ophthalmoscope, and says ‘ I owe you my thanks for directing my 
attention to one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Imagine a 
dense, yet luminous, velvetty blackness below, bounded by a nearly horizontal 
line, just above which is a pearly spot — the entrance of the optic nerve. This 
presents the usual vessels emerging from it. The disc is surrounded by a 
sapphire-blue zone of intense brilliancy, passing into metallic-green ; and be- 
yond this the tapetum shines out with glorious colours of pink and gold, with 
a shimmer of blue and green. It is really lovely.’ ” 
