Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-03-30
Animal Logic.

FFONi alo J0NN-t Apey . OOuH VI tts.
Every day, after breakfast, l made it a
rule to throw a bit of bread into an adjoin-
ing room, as lar of as | could, so as to in
duce nv cat to run after it as it rolled away.
This custom | kept up for several months,
and the cat always regarded that piece Of
bread as the tit.bit of its dessert. Even
after it had eaten meat, it would await with
attentive interest the minute when IL was to
start in pursuit Of the morsel of soft bread.
One day | held the coveted scrap in my
hand, and swung it about for q long time.
While the cat eyed il with a kind OF patient
esgerness, and then, instead of throwing it
into the next room, l threw it behind the
upper portion Of q picture which
was slightly inclined forward from the
wall. The surprise Of the cat, who, closely
following my movements, had observed the
direction which | threw the bread, and its
disappearance was extreme. The uneasy
look of the animal indicated its conscious
ness that a material object trayersing space
could not be annihilated. For some time
the cat considered the matter, then it started
off into the next room evidently guided by
the reflection that the piece of bread having
disappeared, it must have gone through the
wall. But the bread had not gone through
the wall, and the cat returned disappointed.
The animals logic was at fault. | again
attracted its attention By my gestures, and
sent q second piece Of bread to join the first
behind the picture. Ehis time the cat
Jumped upon q divan and went straight to
lie hiding place. Having inspected the
frame on both sides it began to
so dexterously with its paw that it shifted
the lower edge of the picture away from the
wall, ard thus got at the two pieces OF
bread.
4 German diplomatist OF the last CEN
tury has recorded q similar observation re-
s~reeting 3 ~favorite female cat, and advances
il IS proof Of consecutive and conclusive
reasoning on the part Of the animal. 81
noticed" says Baron Won Gretchen, that
she was constantly looking at herself in the
glass, retrestipg from her own image and
running back to it again, and especially
scratching at the frames, for all nv glasses
were inserted in panels. This suggested to
me the idea Of placing a toilet mirror in
the middle of the room, so that my cat
might have the pleasure Of examining it
all round. She began by making sure (by
approaching and Withdrawing as ususl that
she was dealing with a glass ike the others
She passed behind it several tunes, more
quickly each time; but, seeing that she
could not get at the cat, which was always
TOO quick for her; she placed herself at the
edge Of the mirrow, aud looking alternately
one one side and the other, she made quite
sure hat the cat which she had just seen
neither was nor had been behind the mirror.
Then she arrived at the conclusion that the
cat was inside it. But how did she proceed
to test the conclusion, the last hat remained
to her? Keeping her place at the edge OF
the mirror, she rose on her hind feet aud
stretched out her fore paws to feel the thick
ness of the glass; then. aware that it did
not afford sufficient space to contain a cat,
she withdrew dejectedly. Being convinced
that the matter in question was q phe-
nomeuon impossible for her to discover,
because it was outside the circle of her
ideas, she never again looked in any glass,
but at once renowned an object which had
vainly excited her curiosity"