834 
CAT. 
says tradition reacheu its master by descending 
the chimney of his apartment. 
A physician of Lyons, in July, 1800, was re • 
quested to inquire into a murder that had been 
committed on the body of a woman of that city. 
In consequence of this solicitation, he v* c ut to 
the residence of the deceased, where he found her 
extended lifeless on the floor and weltering in her 
blood. A large white cat was mounted on the 
cornice of a cupboard, at the farther end of the 
apartment, where he seemed to have taken refuge, 
lie sat motionless ; with his eyes, .fixed on the 
corpse, and his attitude and looks expressing horror 
and affright. The following morning, .he was 
found in the same station and attitude * and when 
the room was filled with officers of jusiice > neither 
the clattering of the soldiers’ arms, nor the loud 
conversation of the company, could in the least 
degree divert his attention. As soon, however, 
as the suspected persons were brought in, his eyes 
glared with increased fury ; his hair bristled ; ho 
darted into the middle of the apartment, where 
he stopped For a moment to gaze at them ; and 
then precipitately retreated under the bed. * The 
countenances of' the assassins were disconcerted ; 
and they now, for the first time during the whole 
course of the horrid business, felt their atrocious 
audacity forsake them. 
Few animals exhibit more maternal tenderness, 
or shew a greater attachment to their young, than 
the cat. The assiduity with which she attends 
them, and the pleasure which she seems to take in 
all their playful tricks, afford a very grateful en- 
tertainment to every observer of nature. ‘ She has 
also been known not only to nurse with tenderness 
the young of different individuals of her own spe- 
cies, but even those. of other kinds of animals. 
