Smyrna times., 1872-08-14
WHOLE NO. 9O2

to the nerves at the other. OF course the
whiskers Of a cat may be cut off without
inflcting pain. 1t is simply cutting hair.
Moreover, contrary to general notion, other
whiskers are soon produced. During their
absence diminution of tactile power, as if ones
fingers were incased in cots, is the only
result.
Though the smelling power of cats be less
than that of dogs, they have nevertheless
strong ofactory nerves There is plant, more
common in Europe than here, called cat-nip,
| (ncpcta cdtarta, that so attracts cats that it
cannot be grown in the open air unless protcc-
ted by cage. In the Apothecaries Physic
Gardens at Chelsea there used to be, and may
| be now, plant Of cat-mint surrounded by stout
wires. | have seen a sturdy old Tom" de-
liberately set himself to the task of solving the
problem of admission to the forbidden fruit.
With poised tail and trembling whiskers he
walked around and around the incosure, now
peering between the wires now pulling at them
with his claws; sometimes crouching stealthily,
sometimes stepping erect, with bent back and
flashing eyes; at one moment turning away dis
cOuraged, at another drawn back by irresistible
desire, until the taunts and gibes Of on-look-
ing students drove him away.
S Cats can run neither fast nor far. They lack
t bottom. Their teeth and talons compensate for
D want of scent and heetness. With their claws
0 they seize and kill their prey, and with their
t teeth tear 1t III pieces. The prevailing color of
y domestic cats is gray white is next; piebald
g follows, and tortoise-shell is last. This color
e tortoise-shell-s monopoized by females. ga
tortoise Tom" says an English proverb, ''is
r worth his weight inagold.
is All through the middle ages cats were the
1T victims of superstition. Satan appeared to st.
la Anthony in the form of black cat; St. Gre
Dr. CORY saw the tiends who interrupted his mid
( night devOtions hocking around him in the
2, shape Of kittens; Luther, remembering that
Id the devil could not bear contempt" turned his
s. back in bed on the huge monster shape that an
in noyed hm-apparently pebald cat-and ut
r tered an expression not to be repeated; and the
is Salem witches confessed that their contract was
er made with the arch fend in the semblance of &
Lir cat. Even to the present day certain cat-cal
ss predicts misfortune to those who hear it, in the
is rural towns of New England the washing O
in the cat whiskers toretels falling weather; un
usual sportiveness in the domestic fayorite Dor
ID tends high winds; and sluggish sleep unde
ey chairs and tables, on the bed, or in the chin
he ncycorners, of the household pet is the precur
is sor of fair weather.
lie. Sailors are proyerbialy superstitious. A ca
DO domesticated on the Inflated steamer Pacific
'ed of the Collins line, became one night during
in voyage troE! New York to Liverpool, extraor
in dinarlly lively. She rushed repeatedly throug
eir the saloon where the passengers were seated
ans engaged In games or conversation, dashed u
me and down the gangway, Scampered along tn
ing hatchways, rushed in and out of the state
t is rooms, and excited the attention of every on
ide on board. Her conduct became the topic of tn
ent evenings talk. There was no apparent reaso
ties for her unusual eccenrictes Stories of strang
the prognosticatons from the behavior of cats wei
cats told. FELTON,, the president of Harvard, phil
nth sophized upon the topic in his nimitable way
leir A resident Fellow of Oxford took up the SUI
ogs ject, and amused US with anecdotes of domest
but cats in Yorkshire. At last the captain of tt
lear good ship, whom no passengerc can never forge
But said, "Gentlemen and ladies, there is nothir
the strange in our eats behavior; we are to have
lssy storm" Before morning the prediction W
ing verified For three days we encountered sui
a hurricane as the annals of Atlantic navig
Init ton have not often recorded The good shi
rust indeed rode it out safely; but there were few
tc board who ever forgot the drama that beg
aces with the friskiness of the cat, and ended wi
ping the entrance Of the Pacific into the smoo
the waters of the Mersey.