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be a male, while tortoiseshell and white may be of either sex. The blacks are cases of melanism, similar to those occurring among leopards; and there may be true albinos, but many white cats have normally coloured eyes. Very considerable variations in structure, which have arisen spontaneously under domestication, can be, and are, as is well known, perpetuated. This is observable in cattle, sheep, fowls, pigeons, rabbits, and notably dogs; neither has the cat escaped. The peculiar "tailless" variety of the Isle of Man is merely an abnormal form arising from an accidental variation, established by breeding within narrow limits.

The colour of the cat, when white, is often correlated with some structural peculiarities of the auditory apparatus, as described by Mr. Lawson Tait, in an interesting paper read before the Birmingham Philosophical Society, 11th October, 1883. He arrived at the following conclusions: "That no other animal but the cat is subject to congenital deafness; and only those that are entirely white are so affected. While some white cats with the ordinary yellow eyes are deaf, some blue-eyed white cats can hear perfectly well. On the other hand, a white female kitten, with yellow eyes, which appeared among those bred by himself, turned out to be absolutely deaf. Another, a male, that came into his possession, had supernumerary toes; one eye was blue, the other yellow, and the animal was totally deaf."

Mr. Tait described him as an interesting cat. His deafness was solely tympanic, for his intelligence could be reached by impressions conveyed by vibrations of solid media. Thus, a sharp stamp on the floor would attract his attention, even if he were seated on a chair or table. This cat was subject to epilepsy (in common with every kind of white animal Mr. Tait has kept as a pet), and the attacks came on during sleep, the first symptom being a disposition to seize his tail and bite off the end, whereby that member became considerably shortened. A carefully conducted autopsy revealed triangular perforations of the tympanic membranes-no doubt, congenital lesions— while all the cochlear structures were normal, as also were the

auditory nerves. The tympanum, iris, and skin, having all a common origin in the epiblast of the embryo, suffer in common an arrest of development; the pigment being absent from the skin and deficient in the iris, and the tympanum imperfect. According to Mr. Tait's experience, female cats are far more numerous than male, irrespective of colour; but, as he has known only one deaf female cat for some twenty males so affected, he concludes this form of arrested development to be more general with the male sex.

In the early summer, a large proportion of cats in populous towns undergo great suffering from the gross neglect of their owners, which everyone possessed of any feeling regards with the utmost indignation. We are assuredly bound by all considerations of humanity to undertake that those animals which have become dependent upon us by our own act, whether for our use or the gratification of our fancy, shall never be neglected. Many people, however, and particularly those whose means render totally inexcusable the selfishness which inflicts so much suffering, shut up their houses and go to the seaside or into the country, leaving the cat at home literally to starve. About the middle of June or July, any observant person may notice, by a survey of the adjoining back premises, these wretchedly gaunt creatures sitting on roofs and walls, or wandering carelessly about, howling piteously in despair at their desertion. I cannot understand how children and young girls, who have fondled and caressed these animals, can go right away and disport themselves on the yellow sands without a thought of the misery, the downright physical agony of starvation, inflicted on their former pets. Were anyone to set a terrier to worry the house cat, they would be the first to exclaim against the brutality of the act; yet in the whirl of excitement, in the anticipation of their own pleasures, they fail to reflect on the miserable death to which they are condemning a once favourite animal. Making all allowance for the truth of Hood's lines, that

Evil is wrought by want of thought

As well as want of heart,

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it is not easy to find excuse for the insensibility and thoughtlessness of the heart that cares for the pet canary by taking it with the family, and leaves the cat to its fate. A populous town is not a place in which a cat can hunt for its own living with any prospect of success, so that provision must be made for it.

How is this to be done? The habits and character of this half feral animal, it must be confessed, offer no small impediment. Cats, though seldom attaching themselves very strongly to individuals, have an extraordinary instinct of attachment to the locality where they have been brought up or have passed some years. While the dog is prepared to follow his master anywhere at a moment's notice, without a second thought of home as such, the cat will often escape from the person for whom it has exhibited most affection, to return, if possible, to its familiar haunts. On the very day for leaving town, pussy may be away on urgent private affairs, and, it seems, must perforce be left to take her chance. It is easier, for obvious reasons, to deal with an unsexed cat, for in these cases, so far as my experience goes, the instinct of attachment to locality is much weaker than in others. He will at once settle down with the family, even in the street next to that in which he had formerly lived, showing little disposition to return to his old quarters, though he must know the way to them well enough.

Common humanity dictates one of three methods of treatment. Either a dose of prussic acid should be given, or the cat should be left in charge of some responsible person to be fed, with free access to water, or it should be taken with the family. In the last case, unless it be confined for a long time at the new abode, it will surely wander and be lost, and is then likely to suffer as much as if left behind. On the whole, the prussic acid treatment would probably insure the most satisfactory result. It seems to be forgotten that the effect on the cat is much the same whether it be abandoned to its fate out of doors or shut up in a room in the house to starve. In the latter case, the law would interfere with prompt punishment by imprisonment of the offender, while in the former nothing is done and little said.

To my thinking, there is no difference in the moral responsibility. There may be some distinction, but to my eye it is microscopic. Were the two cases submitted to a higher judgment than that of any human law, would it fare better with the offender who turns the key in a door on a cat than with him who leaves it outside his house with an equal certainty that the unfortunate animal dies of starvation, or in its weakness falls a victim to the first boy who may throw a stone at it? Here is a clear field of action for the opponents of experiments on living animals for the purpose of physiological research. Without a doubt, more cats die annually of starvation in London than in all the physiological laboratories in the world, and they die a terrible death in consequence of the selfishness of those who are responsible for their well-being. Unfortunately, however, the case of these tortured cats does not present features which lend themselves to sensational or picturesque effects in advertisements and pictorial wall posters, and would not either arrest attention or draw subscriptions. The cat demands our thoughtful consideration the more by reason of its deficient moral and mental capabilities. Our ownership in it is precarious, and our control over it incomplete. It takes food from us with little or no expression of gratitude, and regards as its own the house in which we are graciously permitted to live with it. An animal so deficient in perception as this surely might be allowed to enjoy its delusions, and be protected from the consequences of our fruitless attempts to raise it to the platform of civilisation, when it is liable at any moment to be turned out to starve in the howling wilderness which we have made for it with bricks and mortar.*

There are not any very adequate data for deciding on the powers of vision in the carnivora, but it may be taken for granted, perhaps, that that of the cats is not inferior to the same sense in other terrestrial mammalia. Of the delicacy

*Since the above was written I am glad to find that a temporary home for neglected cats has been established in connection with the Dogs' Home, at Battersea.

The Senses of Cats.

49

of their auditory sense there can be no doubt. Often have I seen the black warrior already described move stealthily off his rustic table in the garden on to the wall, when a cat was walking down the path of the next garden, in order to watch the movements of the enemy. About 3ft. of the height of the wall would intervene between him and the next garden when on his table, yet I cannot doubt that he heard the footfall of the other cat, a sound which probably no human ear would have detected. During the summer, it was frequently the habit of some of the seventeen pets of my neighbour (the old woman) to walk in at the back of my domicile and pass through to the front along the corridor and out into the road through the open doors, instead of climbing several garden walls. In doing so, they passed the door of the breakfast parlour, or whatever be the name of that front room of a house which lies below the level of the road, and is reached by the area steps. During warm weather, this room was pleasantly cool, and there I took my meals. A tom cat, who had been devoted to a life of celibacy by the veterinary surgeon, usually attended me at dinner, sitting respectfully, expectant of tit-bits, a yard or so behind the chair on which my retriever sat surveying with dignified self-restraint the plate whereon his master gathered fragments of vegetables and meat, to be presently mixed with the soaked biscuit for his dinner.

I have always avoided at meal-time the bad habit of reading. We should not divert to the brain by compulsory thought any of the blood which should be occupied about the digestive organs in stimulating their secretions. Nevertheless, I find a pleasure in the society of animals at this time, which occupies the mind in a gentle way and engages the sympathies. Failing such high company as the dog or a cat, I like to have a canary or other cage bird within sight; and in the Australian bush I taught a horse to eat "damper,” in order that my frugal and solitary board might not be without the companionship of a fellow creature. An intimate friend of my own brings a favourite snake to dinner every day, and there can be no doubt of the

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