Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-20
ANIMAL EXPRESSION,
Mans Resemblance to Dogs and WO
mans Likeness to Cats.

Mans Resemblance to Dogs and WO-
mans Likeness to Cats.
From the London Daily News.
A familiar example of a human and ami
NAL likeness produced by companionship
in degraded tastes is the instance of the
bulldog Mr.. Bill Skies and his hound
grow to favor each other, though the dog
dixie the lion as compared with the serpent
in the "Morte d'Arthur') is 1.-The more
natural beast of the twain" The crushed
.,ose, the slobber lips, all red and wet, the
sporting patch over one eye, the tenacious
jaw and a certain indefeasible good humor,
kindness and honesty make the bulldog one
in type with the old British prizefghter.
There are much worse types, as the spoil
ed, spiteful, fine lady's King Charles lap
dog, or the pettifogeing toy terrier or the
sinking, nocturnal, disreputable lurcher, at
the heels of the sinking, nocturnal, dis
reputable oaf, its owner.
If any mere human being could be as
noble as Geerhound looks or as honest as
a mastiT looks, or as benevolent a New
fcundland can look, it would be the better
for our race. But in expression these dogs
are apt to excel all that humanity can do
by way of performance What makes them
look so delightfully."- yirtuous? The doc
trire of evolution is probably at a loss
here, for man, by the hypothesis, is
II ore highly developed animal than the dog
whereas the expression of the dog often
indicates virtues not yet attained by man.
Lord Byron's epitaph on Boatswan would
not be cynical if the expressions worn by
some dogs We're the flower of centuries of
exemplary conduct in their ancestors. But
probably there is some other explanation.
While man faVors the dog. woman is
clearly akin to the cat. Domestic in habits,
fond of personal neatness, addicted to stay
ing out all night, nearly So at parties
inclined to scratch If sat upon, inexplica-
lie, 1neHable, unfathomable and supreme
ly interesting, woman answers, among the
higher yertebrates to the cat. The Ro-
mans, as soon as they had the cat felis),
called their daughters by the name of pus-
sy felicula). There is a funereal stone to
the names of such pretty puss at Ais
cans, the old Roman sepulchre near Aries
Our common language recognizes what is
so obvious in the phrase for matrimonial
disputes, "a cat and dog life
1T is all cat now" said the husband who
had been advised to make concessions for
the sake of quiet life. There is good
deal of the serpent in all cats, of the SER
pent which beguled our Mother Eve, and
hequeathed its subtlety to her daughters
In Brittany the peasants say that if you
tread on cats tail a serpent will come
forth and bite you. The analogy, then be-
tween feline and feminine facial expression
has been obvious in all stages of society
mosetS, ravens and rabbits, while Mr. Rus
kin'S ''self-made man. was very like a
perch-a greedy, foolish fish 1t is certain
however, that mems minds are not always
to be judged on the evidence of features or
expressions which they share with the
ognomy is falacious, and he who looks
like lamb may be, in name, a Wolfe (of
Quebec and in nature-what the lion
ought to be- but is not.