CAT CAUTERETS
CATABOLISM CAUTIN
CATACLYSM CAUTLEY, SIR PROBY THOMAS
CATACOMB CAUVERY
CATAFALQUE CAVA DEI TIRRENI
CATALANI, ANGELICA CAVAEDIUM
CATALEPSY CAVAGNARI, SIR PIERRE NAPOLEON
CATALOGUE CAVAIGNAC, JEAN BAPTISTE
CATALONIA CAVAIGNAC, LOUIS EUGENE
CATALPA CAVAILLON
CATALYSIS CAVALCANTI, GUIDO
CATAMARAN CAVALIER, JEAN
CATAMARCA (province of Argentine) CAVALIER
CATAMARCA (city of Argentine) CAVALIERE, EMILIO DEL
CATANIA CAVALLI, FRANCESCO
CATANZARO CAVALLINI, PIETRO
CATAPHYLL CAVALLO, TIBERIUS
CATAPULT CAVALLOTTI, FELICE
CATARACT CAVALRY
CATARGIU, LASCAR CAVAN (county of Ireland)
CATARRH CAVAN (town of Ireland)
CATARRHINE APE CAVANILLES, ANTONIO JOSE
CATASTROPHE CAVATINA
CATAUXI CAVE, EDWARD
CATAWBAS CAVE, WILLIAM
CATCH THE TEN CAVE
CATECHISM CAVEA
CATECHU CAVEAT
CATECHUMEN CAVEDONE, JACOPO
CATEGORY CAVENDISH, GEORGE
CATENARY CAVENDISH, HENRY
CATERAN CAVENDISH, THOMAS
CATERHAM CAVENDISH, SIR WILLIAM
CATERPILLAR CAVETTO
CATESBY, ROBERT CAVIARE
CAT-FISH CAVITE
CATGUT CAVOUR, CAMILLO BENSO
CATHA CAVOUR
CATHARS CAVY
CATHAY CAWDOR
CATHCART, SIR GEORGE CAWNPORE
CATHCART, WILLIAM SCHAW CATHCART CAXTON, WILLIAM
CATHCART CAYENNE
CATHEDRAL CAYENNE PEPPER
CATHELINEAU, JACQUES CAYEY
CATHERINE, SAINT CAYLEY, ARTHUR
CATHERINE I CAYLUS, ANNE CLAUDE DE LEVIS
CATHERINE II CAYMAN ISLANDS
CATHERINE DE' MEDICI CAZALES, JACQUES ANTOINE DE
CATHERINE OF ARAGON CAZALIS, HENRI
CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA CAZEMBE
CATHERINE OF VALOIS CAZIN, JEAN CHARLES
CATHETUS CAZOTTE, JACQUES
CATHOLIC CEANOTHUS
CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH, THE CEARA
CATILINE CEAWLIN
CATINAT, NICOLAS CEBES
CATLIN, GEORGE CEBU
CATO, DIONYSIUS CECCO D'ASCOLI
CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS (statesman) CECIL
CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS (philosopher) CECILIA, SAINT
CATO, PUBLIUS VALERIUS CECROPIA
CATS, JACOB CECROPS
CAT'S-EYE CEDAR
CATSKILL CEDAR CREEK
CATSKILL MOUNTAINS CEDAR FALLS
CATTANEO, CARLO CEDAR RAPIDS
CATTARO CEFALU
CATTEGAT CEHEGIN
CATTERMOLE, GEORGE CEILING
CATTLE CEILLIER, REMY
CATULLUS, GAIUS VALERIUS CELAENAE
CATULUS CELANDINE
CAUB CELANO
CAUCA CELEBES
CAUCASIA CELERY
CAUCASUS CELESTE, MADAME
CAUCHOIS-LEMAIRE, LOUIS AUGUSTE CELESTINA, LA
CAUCHON, PIERRE CELESTINE (popes)
CAUCHY, AUGUSTIN LOUIS CELESTINE (sulphate)
CAUCUS CELESTINES
CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX CELIBACY
CAUDINE FORKS CELL
CAUDLE CELLA
CAUL CELLARET
CAULAINCOURT, ARMAND LOUIS CELLE
CAULICULUS CELLIER, ALFRED
CAULON CELLINI, BENVENUTO
CAUSATION CELLULOSE
CAUSEWAY CELSIUS, ANDERS
CAUSSES CELSUS
CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, ARMAND-PIERRE CELT (ancient people)
CAUSTIC CELT (ancient stone tools)
CAT,[1] properly the name of the well-known domesticated feline animal
usually termed by naturalists _Felis domestica_, but in a wider sense
employed to denote all the more typical members of the family _Felidae_.
According to the _New English Dictionary_, although the origin of the
word "cat" is unknown, yet the name is found in various languages as far
back as they can be traced. In old Western Germanic it occurs, for
instance, so early as from A.D. 400 to 450; in old High German it is
_chazza_ or _catero_, and in Middle German _kattaro_. Both in Gaelic and
in old French it is _cat_, although sometimes taking the form of
_chater_ in the latter; the Gaelic designation of the European wild cat
being _cat fiadhaich_. In Welsh and Cornish the name is _cath_. If
Martial's _cattae_ refer to this animal, the earliest Latin use of the
name dates from the 1st century of our era. In the work of Palladius on
agriculture, dating from about the year A.D. 350, reference is made to
an animal called _catus_ or _cattus_, as being useful in granaries for
catching mice. This usage, coupled with the existence of a distinct term
in Gaelic for the wild species, leaves little doubt that the word "cat"
properly denotes only the domesticated species. This is confirmed by the
employment in Byzantine Greek of the term [Greek: k'attos] or [Greek:
k'atta] to designate domesticated cats brought from Egypt. It should be
added that the [Greek: a'ilouros] of the Greeks, frequently translated
by the older writers as "cat," really refers to the marten-cat, which
appears to have been partially domesticated by the ancients and employed
for mousing.
As regards the origin of the domesticated cats of western Europe, it is
well known that the ancient Egyptians were in the habit of domesticating
(at least in some degree) the Egyptian race of the African wild cat
(_Felis ocreata maniculata_), and also of embalming its remains, of
which vast numbers have been found in tombs at Beni Hasan and elsewhere
in Egypt. These Egyptian cats are generally believed by naturalists to
have had a large share in the parentage of the European breeds, which
have, however, in many cases been crossed to a greater or less extent
with the European wild cat (_F. catus_).
One of the features by which the Egyptian differs from the European wild
cat is the longer and less bushy tail; and it has been very generally
considered that the same feature is characteristic of European
domesticated cats. According, however, to Dr E. Hamilton, "the
measurement of a number of tails of the [European] wild cat and of the
domestic cat gives a range between 11 in. and 14-1/2 in., the longer
length being quite as often found in the wild cats as in the domestic.
The bushy appearance depends entirely on the length of the fur, and
accords with the thick fur of the rest of the body of the wild cat,
while in the domestic race the fur both on the body and tail is thinner
and softer."
Possibly those domesticated cats with unusually short and bushy tails
may have a larger share of European wild-cat blood; while, conversely,
such wild cats as show long tails may have a cross of domesticated
blood.
More importance was attached by Dr A. Nehring of Berlin (_SB. Ges.
Naturfor._, Berlin, 1887) to the colour of the soles of the hind-feet as
a means of determining the relationship of the domesticated cat of
Europe. According to his observations, in the Egyptian wild cat the pads
of the toes are wholly black, while the black extends back either
continuously or in long stripes as far as the calcaneum or heel-bone. In
the European wild cat, on the other hand, the black is limited to a
small round spot on the pads, while the colour of the hair as far back
as the heel-bone is yellowish or yellowish-grey. Since in all
domesticated cats retaining the colouring of the wild species the soles
of the hind-feet correspond in this particular with the Egyptian rather
than with the European wild cat, the presumption is in favour of their
descent from the former rather than from the latter.
Later, Dr Nehring (_op. cit._ 1889) came to the conclusion that the
domesticated cat has a dual parentage, one stock coming from
south-eastern Asia and the other from north-eastern Africa; in other
words, from a domesticated Chinese cat (itself derived from a wild
Chinese species) on the one hand, and from the Egyptian cat on the
other. The ordinary domesticated cats of Europe are, however, mainly of
African origin, although they have largely crossed, especially in
Germany (and probably also in Great Britain), with the wild cat. The
same author was likewise of opinion that the domestication or taming of
various species of wild cats took place chiefly among nationalities of
stationary or non-nomadic habits who occupied themselves with
agricultural pursuits, since it would be of vital importance that their
stores of grain should be adequately protected from the depredations of
rats and mice.
The foregoing opinion as to the dual parentage of our domesticated cats
receives support from observations made many years ago by E. Blyth,
which have recently been endorsed and amplified by R.I. Pocock (_Proc.
Zool. Soc. London_, 1907). According to these observations, two distinct
types of so-called tabby cats are recognizable. In the one the pattern
consists of narrow vertical stripes, and in the other of longitudinal or
obliquely longitudinal stripes, which, on the sides of the body, tend
to assume a spiral or sub-circular arrangement characteristic of the
blotched tabby. This latter type appears to be the true "tabby"; since
that word denotes a pattern like that of watered silk. One or other of
these types is to be found in cats of almost all breeds, whether
Persian, short-haired or Manx; and there appear to be no intermediate
stages between them. Cats of the striped type are no doubt descended
from the European and North African wild cats; but the origin of cats
exhibiting the blotched pattern appears to be unknown. As it was to a
cat of the latter kind that Linnaeus gave the name of _Felis catus_,
Pocock urges that this title is not available for the European wild cat,
which he would call _Felis sylvestris_. Without accepting this proposed
change in nomenclature, which is liable to lead to confusion without any
compensating advantage, it may be suggested that the blotched tabby type
represents Dr Nehring's presumed Chinese element in the cat's parentage,
and that the missing wild stock may be one of the numerous phases of the
leopard-cat (_F. bengalensis_), in some of which an incipient spiral
arrangement of the markings may be noticed on the shoulder.
As to the introduction of domesticated cats into Europe, the opinion is
very generally held that tame cats from Egypt were imported at a
relatively early date into Etruria by Phoenician traders; and there is
decisive evidence that these animals were established in Italy long
before the Christian era. The progeny of these cats, more or less
crossed with the indigenous species, thence gradually spread over
Europe, to become mingled at some period, according to Dr Nehring's
hypothesis, with an Asiatic stock. The earliest written record of the
introduction of domesticated cats into Great Britain dates from about
A.D. 936, when Hywel Dda, prince of South Wales, enacted a law for their
protection. "The Romans," writes Dr Hamilton, "were probably the
original introducers of this cat, and as the final evacuation of Britain
by that nation took place under the emperor Valentinian about A.D. 436,
the period of its introduction may certainly be dated some 500 years
previous to the Welsh chronicle and even much earlier." It is added that
the remains of cats from Roman villas at Silchester and Dursley are
probably referable to the domesticated breed.
Before proceeding to notice some of the different types of domesticated
cats, a few lines may be devoted to the wild European species, _F.
catus_. Beyond stating that in colour it conforms very closely to the
striped phase of domesticated tabby, it will be unnecessary to describe
the species. Its geographical range was formerly very extensive, and
included Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany,
Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Transylvania, Galicia, the Caucasus as far as
the Caspian, southern Russia, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria,
Servia, and portions of central and northern Asia. "At the present
time," observes Dr Hamilton, "the wild cat has become almost extinct in
many of the above districts. Examples may perhaps occasionally still be
found in the uninhabited forests of Hungary and Transylvania, and
occasionally in Spain and Greece, as well as in the Caucasus and in some
of the Swiss cantons, but the original race has in most countries
interbred with the domestic cat wherever the latter has penetrated." In
Great Britain wild cats survive only in some of the Scottish forests,
and even there it is difficult to decide whether pure-bred specimens are
extant. Remains of the wild cat occur in English caverns; while from
those of Ireland (where the wild species has apparently been unknown
during the historic period) have been obtained jaws and teeth which it
has been suggested are referable to the Egyptian rather than to the
European wild cat. Such a determination is, however, extremely
hazardous, even if it be admitted that the remains of cats from the
rock-fissures of Gibraltar pertain to _Felis ocreata_.