The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-02-23
Deafness in White Cats.


more because the occurrence AMONG
them of deafness was used by Mr.. Oar.
win in his first edition of Animals and
Plants under Domestication'' as an
illustration of correlated variability. He
was under the impression that white
cats with blue eyes were invariably
deaf.
l had collected a number of observa.
tions which personally made, and |
). found that some white cats were deaf
which had the ordinary yellow ewes.
and that some white cats with blue ewes
could hear perfectly well. have never
heard of deafness in any but white
cat, and all the deaf white cats had
personally examined were males
Therefore, in Nature, 1873, | published
brief note pointing out Mr.. Darwin's
error. In his second edition Mr.. Oar
win established two cases of deafness in
female white cats, so that the conclu-
sions of both of us were upset and this
wholesale destruction of theories has
been completed by the birth in one of
my feline families of white kitten.
female, with perfectly yellow eyes, and
absolutely deaf. She lived with us for
two years, and her misfortune was quite
permanent. My conclusions from the
facts observed by myself now may be
formulated in this way, that congenital
| deafness is not known to occur in any
animal but the cat, though [ am not
| quite sure but that one white -mcsHy !
had some years ago was deaf, and that
no cats but those entirely white are ever
deaf As female cats are far more
common than males (and this seems
| to be true of white cats as wellas those
of other colors,) and as l have known
| only one deaf female cat for some twenty
deaf males, | think may assume that
deafness is more common among males
than among females. The color
of the eyes has evidently moth
ing to do with the deafness,
though it has with the color of the
fur, and seems to be dependent on the
| same process-an arrest of develop
ment. The eyes of nearly all kittens
are blue for some weeks after birth,
and the same cause which arrests the
fermentation of the fur arrests in a
very much smaller number the pigmen-
tary growth in the eye. [ have been
told of two cases of complete absence
of pigment in the eyes of two cats
| (albinism) as is seen so commonly in
rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice,
but have not been able properly to
authenticate them. These cats were
said to be not deaf.
In 1872 l obtained a cat from Hert-
fordshire as an example of the polydac-
| s,.h
when he arrived found that he was
white, that he had one eye bright blue
and the other bright yellow, and that
he was profoundly deaf He was by
far the most interesting cat that | have
ever possessed, and must be well re-
membered by many members of this
society who have favored my house
| with their presence, as "Old Fudge, )"
| possessed of all the feline virtues, and
many of more human type-and free
from vice of every kind. He lived with
us for eleven years, and died last winter
of peritonitis. While living with us we
made many observations concerning his
deafness, and | easily determined that
it was purely tympanic-that is, he was
deaf to impressions conveyed through
the air, but his intelligence could be
reached by impressions conveyed
through solid media. When 1 wanted
him to come to me gave a peculiar
sharp stamp on the floor, and he i'm
mediately responded to the signal, even
if he was on chair OF table. 1t is very
remarkable that this congenital deaf
| ness is in no way associated in the cat
with mutism. Human deaf-mutes gen.
orally are those in whom deafness is
cochlear as well as tympanic, and the
result of such disease as scarlet fever
in very early life. One other peculiar
ity he had is that for about four wears
he suffered from occasional fits of cpl
lepsy of a very severe kind. They came
on always during his sleep, and for
their first indication had the painful
popularity that the cat seized the tip of
his tail and bit it off, and in this way
his tail was shortened considerably
Every kind of white animal have kept
as pet has been the subject of cpl
lepsy, and the association is suggestive
when we are told, as / have been fire.
quently, that the disease is unknown
amongst negroes.
sent the body of my old cat to-
Prof. Flower for the purpose of having
an investigation made into the cause
of his deafness. Prof. Flower had a
most careful investigation of the condi-
| ton of his ears made by two compe-
tent investigators-Dr Cumberbach
and DR.. Heneage Gibbs. The result,
briefly stated, is that all the structures
in the ears were normal save the tym-
panic membranes, in which there were
triangular gaps extending from the
roof to just below the center, the bases
of the gaps being directed upwards,
and their anterior sides being formed
by the handles of the mallei The
gaps appeared to be congenital, and
were quite symmetrical; all the other
| apparatus was normal, and the audi
tory nerves were of normal size and
structure.
The only congenital defect known in
the human tympanum is very minute
aperture of rare occurrence, and due
to the patency of the assure of Rivinus.
The tympanic deficiency in the white
cat seems to be in no way associated
| with this form of arrest.
The results of the observation are
interesting, though the subject may
perhaps be regarded as trivial, as by It
the point raised by Mr.. Darwin is final
ly established. 1t really is case, and
| very we'll marked one. of correlated