n the whole the least interesting, of domesticated
animals, they have had a certain place in civilization. They afford,
moreover, a capital foil by which to set off the virtues of the dog.
Nowhere else, indeed, among the creatures which are intimately
associated with men, do we find two related forms which afford, along
with a certain likeness, such great diversities of quality.

We know nothing as to the time when the cat first found its way to the
associations of man. Presumably this period was much later than the
advent of the dog into the human family. The presumption rests upon the
fact that while the dog does not demand fixed residence as a condition
of its fealty, but is at home wherever his master is, the cat is the
creature of the domicile, caring more indeed for its dwelling-place than
it ever does for the inmates thereof. In a word, the creature must have
come to us after our forefathers gave up the nomadic life.
Nevertheless, the association is very ancient; it has endured in Egypt
at least for a term of several thousand years.

Among the curious features connected with the association of the cat
with man, we may note that it is the only animal which has been
tolerated, esteemed, and at times worshipped, without having a
single distinctly valuable quality. It is, in a small way,
serviceable in keeping down the excessive development of small
rodents, which from the beginning have been the self-invited guests
of man. As it is in a certain indifferent way sympathetic, and by
its caresses appears to indicate affection, it has awakened a
measure of sympathy which it hardly deserves. I have been unable to
find any authentic instances which go to show the existence in cats
of any real love for their masters.

In the matter of intelligence cats appear to rank almost as high as
dogs. They are even quicker than their canine relatives in
discerning the nature of man's artful contrivances; they readily
acquire the habit of opening doors which are closed by means of a
latch, even where it is necessary to combine the strong pull on the
handle with the push that completes the operation. Feats of this
sort are rarely if ever performed by dogs.

The most peculiar quality in the mind of cats is the intense way in
which they cling to a well-known locality. Their memory of places, and
affection for them, if we may so term it, is evidently far greater
than that which they feel for people. Some years ago I had an
interesting