The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-07-29
Natural ~History---cats.
No. 2.

~
Tho illustrious Humboldt in his
Cosmos says: "The different branche:
of the study of Natural History are
only accessible in certain positions Of
social life" This is undoubtedly true,
and is one of the points upon which
we cordially agree with the great phi.
losopher. For instance, those who
are too poverty-stricken to pay fol
this paper, or those who from natural
imbecility or lack of early culture are
incapable of grasping the great truths
concerning the various subjects We
treat upon, belong to the unfortunate
class doomed to "outer darkness
even in this life. The recent very
learned treatise upon that noble ami.
NAL, the dog, which appeared in these
columns, has already been translated
into fourteen different languages, and
has awakened an immense interest in
their culture.
The School Boards of this and vari.
GUS other towns have not yet had il
Incorporated into the school text
books on Natural History, but will
doubtless do so at an early day. By
special request, the subject of the
present treatise will be Goats" AS
We remarked in our former article,
CLASSIFICATION in the treatment OF
subjects is of the highest Importance.
Cats are divided into two great natur-
al well-known classes-those which
are Thomas Cats, and those which are
not. The failure of some crude and
superficial writer's upon Natural His
tory to make tliis important classifica-
ton, has, in some instances, led to
great confusion upon the subject.
Look wellto classification.
Cats are also called feline, because
from the earliest dawn Of their exist
ence until the last of their nine lives
is gone, they are feeling around for
something to eat. Dogs, on the con-
trary, are called canine, on account of
the number of canes which p~etulent
old men throw at them when they are
providing around back yards. This
distinction should not be forgotten by
those who aspire to scholarly attain
ments, and we have no doubt the nov
city of the above theories will attract
attention, and may perhaps provoke
bitter discussion. Nevertheless, so
well satisfied are we of the truth of
the above theories, from our personal
observation and examination in many
lands, that we boldly avow our views
and challenge contradiction. Again,
cats evidently belong to that class OF
animals which Lord Blackstone had
in mind when he was writing his very
able opening chapters on the Reports
ofThings, he says: "But after all there
are some few things which, notwith-
standing, the general introduction and
continuance of property, must still
unavoidably remain in COMMON" To
thoroughly understand the text ofthis
eminent lawyer one must be fully &C
quainted with the value of cats, and
the rules and regulations governing
commons in England atthat day. The
legal fraternity will see the point OF
the foregoing remarks. We may reas-
onably presume there were a great
many cats on the commons at the time
he was writing, and they were per-
haps q source of trouble to the cmi-
nent commentator. From the diction-
aries of the various languages we1earn
thai this animals name possesses great
uniformity, Cat, Kat, Katt, Kattr,
Katz, Chat, Cat, Cats, Katti, Kach,
Catus, Yars, Kot, Kcde, Git. From
the different names given the animal,
and the appearance of the field after
q battle on their part, arises the Eng
fish word, category" From the we'll
known habit of the animal TO seek fol
an elevated position when m~usically
inclined arises the word Catalogue
which, upon al examination of He.
roditus, ~Josephus and Pliny, we con.
clude TO be a modern vulgarism o.
the original chaldaic Katt on q log
which refers TO position alone and hal
no reference to music.
From the invariable inclination Of
the cat to mount everything, a certain
species of the animal is called cata.
mount. In ancient times the cat wai
worshipped as a sacred animal, espe'
cially in Egypt. 1t was according tc
some very old works on the anthro
pology of brutes, made the specia
duty of the Chief Priests of the innel
temple to comb the sacred cat eacl
day, to rid them of any feas, lice
bugs, or other vermin which nigh
find Judgment on them, and there ar,
yet to be found in that country man!
of the combs they used for this pur
pose, which in u language are call
ed catacombs. These catacombs wer
noticed by Humboldt, Culver ant
Audubon, not only in Egypt, but ii
Italy, beyond Naples. So many trav
elers have noticed these catacombs W
will not enter into detail %concernin
them, but will only say that their siz
indicates that both the people and cat
of those days were much larger tina
at present. The mother cat, for th