never come in contact with dirty water, and
never have their fur rubbed the wrong way,
except when dragging back a fat young mouse
out of a narrow hole!

I bid adieu to Lady Cust, but not to pussy.
To any society for the diffusion of useful
knowledge let me respectfully inscribe what
next has to be said.

Here is some of the wisdom of our
forefathers concerning cats: Know that the eyes
of a cat wax and wane according to the waxing
and the waning of the moon, and that the
apples of their eyes follow the course of the
sun. If a cat be tied in a bag, and
carried far away from its old home to a
new house, it will return; but, if it be taken
backward into the new house, it will remain
there. When a cat is in a cart, and the
wind blows over the cat upon the horses,
they become very weary; the horse also soon
flags that is ridden by a man who has any
cat's fur in his clothing. On the death of a
Tom cat, the life departs from all his unborn
progeny. Terrible as is the persecution by
the cat of rats and mice, the hostile races
become friends if they are compelled to live
together. Lemmery shut up a cat with
several mice in an iron cage. The mice were
at first alarmed, but as puss took no notice
of them, and sat in their midst with a good-
humoured expression; they began to play
together, and at last even to play with her.
They plucked and nibbled at her. When
any mouse was too troublesome, puss very
gently boxed his ears with a touch of her
paw. After a long time, their gambols
evidently had become a bore to her she could
not sleep in peace; and Lemmery then let
her out. We are not told whether the cat
had dined when the experiment began.

The brain of a cat is, according to
the before-mentioned wisdom of our
forefathers, somewhat poisonous; but may be
used in small doses medicinally as a love-
spell. To cure a whitlow, put the diseased
finger every day for a quarter of an hour into
the ear of a cat; the worm by which the
whitlow is caused will be thus hindered
from wriggling any further, and eventually
will be killed. Three drops of blood from
the vein under a cat's tail, taken in water,
are a cure for epilepsy. The head of a black
cat being burnt to ashes, a little of the dust
blown into the eyes three times a-day keeps
the sight perfect. The man faints by whom
one or two hairs of a cat are swallowed.

The fat of the wild cat (or the cat run
wild) used to be provided by hunters to the
apothecaries' shops, where, under the name of
Axungia cati sylvestris, it was used as a
softening application, especially good for
ripening an abscess, curing lameness, or
epilepsy. The skins of the wild cat used also
to be employed medicinally. They gave
strength, it was thought, to the arms and legs
if used as coverings, or if worn on the chest.

M. Hecart, of Valenciennes, tamed a wild
cat; placing under her protection a tame
sparrow that was free to fly about the garden.
A neighbouring cat suddenly seized the
sparrow, and was instantly attacked by its
protector. The bird was snatched bleeding
from the jaws of death, and carried by its
champion to M. Hecart; after which, we are
to understand the wild cat watched over
the sick-bed of the sparrow with much
sympathy. In the German Magazine of
Natural History which contained this history,
another writer tells of a great black Tom cat
—also a wild cat tamed—who was established
as the watchman of a court containing
several partridges and blackbirds, a hare, and
a couple of sparrows. Woe to the dog,
or other cat, who dared come near to them
with hostile purpose!

Perhaps it is credible that in countries
liable to earthquakes, cats more certainly
predict a catastrophe by their uneasiness,
than they predict rain to housewives by
over-diligence in the washing of their
whiskers. A little while before the great
earthquake at Messina, a merchant of the
town observed that his two cats were scratching
in an excited way at the floor, and at the
closed door of his room. He opened the door
to them. They rushed out, and scratched
violently in turn at three other closed doors
that intervened between them and the street.
Once in the street, they scampered off at full
speed, until they were out of the town gates
and in the open country. There, their master,
who followed at leisure, found them in a
field still terrified and still scratching at
the ground. Soon after the first shock
of the earthquake occurred, and many houses
in the town were tumbled to the ground, that
of the merchant being one of them.

A remarkable circumstance that used to be
discussed concerning cats is the repugnance
of some men to abide them. Conrad Gesner
knew many men who broke out into perspiration,
lost their strength, and fainted if a
cat was near. King Henri III. of France
—who was weak and dissipated—is said to
have had this antipathy. It was the same with
a Duke of Noailles, who lived more than a
hundred years ago. It is added that such
persons are affected even by the picture of a
cat; and, fable went on to say, even by the
unseen picture of a cat in an adjoining room.
Gesner considered it to be curable by medicine,
as it may be removed even from nature—
witness the happy families in London streets
—by art. Happy families are not new things
under the sun. Centuries ago a priest of
Lucerne taught a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a
sparrow to take all their meals together
from one plate. And there is record of an
old maid very long since dead, who taught
twenty-two different animals, among which
were a cat, a dog, a mouse, a marmot, a
turtle dove, a blackbird, and a starling, to eat
from the same dish, and to live in harmony
together.