certainly without tuition, learned to open a door that led into
the stables from a yard, into which looked some of the windows of
my house. Standing at these windows when the Cat did not see me,
I have many times witnessed her modus operandi. Walking up to the
door, with a most matter-of-course kind of air, she used to spring
at the half-hoop handle, just below the thumb-latch. Holding on to
the bottom of this half-hoop with one forepaw, she then raised the
other to the thumb-piece, and while depressing the latter, finally,
with her hind legs, scratched and pushed the doorpost so as to
open the door. Precisely similar cases have been described by my
correspondents as having been witnessed by them."
It may be interesting to the reader to know that Prof. Darwin, in his
great treatise upon animals, declares that Cats with blue eyes are
invariably deaf. My experience has not proven this assertion, and, if
it is as true as other assertions, in "The Origin of Species," for
instance, the evolution of man from the ape, I think the reader has
just cause for doubt.
Sir Richard Phillips says in "Million of Facts," American edition,
page 48: "The Angora Cat has one eye blue and the other yellow."
Also, on page 49: "Perfectly white Cats are deaf."
Regarding this last assertion, I will say I once owned a "perfectly
white Cat," which was a Tom, weighing twenty-five pounds, who was not
deaf, and I cannot comprehend any just reason why a white Cat should
be deaf, or what the color of the fur has to do with the ear or her
hearing.
The statement has been made in the works of several writers upon
animals and their habits that dogs and Cats would never fraternize. I
have not a doubt that the experience of most of my readers will serve
to demonstrate the contrary, as my own experience undoubtedly does.
Illustrative of the superior intelligence of the Cat, Prof. Romanes
gives the following stories:
"Mrs. Hubbard tells me of a Cat she possessed that was in the habit
of poaching young rabbits, to 'eat privately in the seclusion of a
disused pig-sty.' One day this Cat caught a small black rabbit, and,
instead of eating it, as she always did the brown ones, brought it
into the house, unhurt, and laid it at the feet of her mistress.
'She clearly recognized the black rabbit as an unusual specimen and
apparently thought it right to show it to her mistress.' Such was not
the only instance this Cat showed of zoological discrimination, for
on another occasion, having caught another unusual animal, viz., a
stoat, she also brought this, alive, into the house, for the purpose
of exhibiting it."
Mr. T.B. Groves tells, in "Nature," of a Cat which, on first seeing
his own reflection in the mirror, tried to fight it. Meeting with
resistance from the glass, the Cat next ran behind the mirror. Not
finding the object of his search, he again came to the front, and
while keeping his eyes deliberately fixed upon the image, felt round
the edge of the glass with one paw, whilst with his head twisted
around to the front he assured himself of the persistence of the
reflection. He never afterwards condescended to notice the mirror.
A wonderful faculty of the Cat is her quick perception of the uses
of mechanical appliances. In corroboration of this assertion, I
introduce the following stories:
Couch, in his "Illustrations of Instinct," page 196, gives a case
within his own knowledge, of a Cat which, in order to get some milk
which was kept in a locked cupboard, used to unlock the door by
seating herself on an adjoining table and "repeatedly patting on the
bow of the key with her paw, when, with a slight push on the door,
she was able to open it. The lock was old and the key turned in it on
a very slight impulse."
As a still further instance of the Cat's high appreciation of
mechanical appliances, I give an extract from a paper by Mr. Otto,
which will have been read at the Linnean Society, before this paper
is published.
"At Peara, the residence of Parker Bowan, Esq., a full-grown Cat was
one day accidentally locked up in a room, without any other outlet
than a small window moved on hinges, and kept shut up by means of a
swivel. Not long afterwards the window was found open and the Cat
gone. This having happened several times, it was, at last, found that
the Cat jumped upon the window sill, placed her forepaws as high
as she could reach against the side, deliberately reached with one
over to the swivel, moved it from its horizontal to a perpendicular
position, and then, leaning with her whole weight against the window,
escaped."
Illustrative of the camaraderie of the Cat with human beings, and
of the fact that she can, and frequently does, overcome her natural
antipathy to water, Prof. Romanes tells the following interesting
tale:
"A fisherman, of Portsmouth, England, called 'Robinson Crusoe,' made
famous by Mr. Buckland, had a cat called 'Puddles,' which overcame
the horror of water, characteristic of his race, and employed his
piscatorial talent in the service of his master, who said of him:
'He was the wonderfulest water Cat as ever came out of Portsmouth
Harbor, was Puddles, and he used to go out a-fishin' with me every
night. On cold nights he would sit on my lap while I was a-fishin',
and poke his head out every now and then, or else I would wrap him up
in a sail, and make him lay quiet. He'd lay down on me while I was
asleep, and if anybody come, he'd swear a good un, and have the face
off on 'em if they went to touch me, and he'd never touch a fish, not
even a little teeny pout, if you didn't give it to 'im. I was obliged
to take him out a-fishin' or else he'd stand an' yowl and marr till
I went back and ketched him by the poll and shied him into the boat,
and then he was quite happy. When it was fine he used to stick up at
the bow of the boat and sit a-watchin' the dogs," meaning dog-fish.
"The dogs used to come along by the thousands at a time, and when
they was thick all about, he would dive in and fetch 'em out, jammed
in his mouth as fast as may be, just as if they was a parcel of rats,
and he didn't tremble with the cold half as much as a Newfoundland
dog who was used to it. He looked terrible wild about the head when
he came out of the water with a dog-fish. I larnt him the water
myself. One day, when he was a kitten, I took him down to the sea
to wash and brush the fleas out of him, and in a week he could swim
after a feather or a cork."
XX.
VOWELS AND LIQUIDS PREDOMINATE.
In the foregoing chapters, I have quoted largely from the best
anatomists, physiologists, naturalists, pathologists, philologists
and linguists, in support of my theses, the most important of which
are:
First--That the Cat is of a more delicate organism than the dog and,
therefore, more susceptible of refinement and everything that goes
toward making it a superior animal.
Second--That it possesses a higher order of intelligence than any
other of the quadrumina, and, consequently, more brain-power equal to
that of man, in the ratio of its size.
Third--That with the same advantages or association with man and
equal advantages of time and opportunity, the Cat will prove herself
possessed of all the attributes which have been so much admired in
the dog, besides the many admirable personalities accorded to her,
and disprove the faults which have been ascribed to the feline by a
prejudiced people.
If the reader will admit my arguments to be good enough to prove my
theses, it will go a long way toward the admission of my theories
concerning the language of the Cat, which my investigations have
proven to me to be not only a possibility, but a fact beyond dispute.
I have been thus particular in the foregoing chapters, in order to
lay a foundation for what follows concerning the interpretation of
a sign and word language, given to the Cat as language was given
to man by his Maker. The possibility of the cultivation of such a
language is an important point in my argument, and I give, in support
thereof, no less, as there cannot be any greater, authority in the
English language than Prof. A.H. Sayce, the eminent philologist,
who, in his "Introduction to the Science of Language," remarks: "We
must be careful to remember that language includes every kind of
instrumentality whereby we communicate our thoughts and feelings to
others, and that the deaf mute who can communicate only with the
fingers and lips is as truly gifted with the power of speech as the
man who can articulate his words. The latter has a more perfect
instrument at his command, but that is all. Indeed, it is quite
possible to conceive of a community in which all communications were
carried on by means of the hands alone. To this day the savage tribes
make large use of gestures, and we are told that the Grevos, of
Africa, admirably imitate the persons and tenses of the verbs by this
means only."
In the word part of the language of the Cat there are, probably,
not more than six hundred fundamental words, all others being
derivatives. Consonants are daintily used, while a wide berth is
given to explosives and the liquid letters "l" and "r" enter into
the great majority of sounds. The sounds of the labials are not
frequently heard, but the vowels, a, e, i, o and u, go far toward
making up the entire complement of words in the language of the Cat.
I say that there are not, probably, more than six hundred primitive
words, because I have not, after years of search, discovered more
than that number, and am of the opinion that the spoken words will
not number more. The difficulty of fixing the number of spoken words
may be realized from the fact that the signs are so universally used,
to the neglect of the sounds, that the opportunity afforded to catch
the sound and interpret the meaning is rare. In short, while the
words do exist, they are never used excepting when actual necessity
requires their use. Signs are not only more comprehensive than
sounds, but the meaning is conveyed more quickly and with greater
ease emphasized. Sounds are used chiefly to attract attention where
signs would fail. Therefore, signs are used to the exclusion of
sounds, whenever they will answer the purpose.
The Chinese language is more nearly like the Cat language than any
of the existing languages, and so closely resembles it in very
many respects as to almost persuade me that the language of the
Cat was derived from it. It is a wonderful thing, and well worth
our attention, that no people are more fond of the feline than the
Chinese, who utilize the little animal to a greater extent than
people in any other part of the world. It is not a fact generally
known, but it is a fact that reveals itself to all foreigners who
visit the Celestial Empire, all of whom assure us of its truth,
that the Chinese use the Cat to tell the time of day. This they
are enabled to do by a close observation of the contraction and
elongation of the pupil of the eye. It is said to be an unerring sign
and always answers the purpose of correctly indicating the hour and
part of an hour where a clock is not at hand, or may be too costly
an article of household furnishing for the poorer classes among the
moon-eyed creatures of the Orient.
In the Chinese language there are few words, and, like the Chinese,
the sounds uttered in the Cat language are musical tones, mellifluous
and pleasing to the senses. Like the Chinese, too, the words have
various meanings, according to the inflections of the voice. The
resemblance in the use and disuse of certain letters, is significant,
and never more so than in the constant infusion of the vowels. Take,
for instance, the word "mieouw," so frequently heard, uttered by the
feline, and meaning, literally, "here," and we find in it a word of
five letters, three absolute and one "possible" vowels.
Give attention, for a moment, to the word "purrieu," which is a
note of satisfaction and content, and give attention to the number
of vowels and the Frenchman's roll of the liquid "r," so that it
comes to the ear like "pur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rieu," with a gradually
ascending inflection. In plain English, it means "happy," or, more
comprehensively, perhaps, "all is quiet along the Potomac," and
"I am as happy as a clam at high water," expressions whose weight
and importance were better understood by the soldiers of the army
of the Potomac, after the Battle of Bull Run, and by lovers of the
crustacean, than by ordinary people.
A matronly Cat will always use the last-mentioned word in calling
together her family under ordinary circumstances, and continue it
while caressing them, frequently merging it into a song much lower
and sweeter to the sense than the lullaby we all have heard from the
lips of the gentle mother while nestled tenderly upon her heart.
The meaning of this word is never so well understood by kittens as
when uttered in a sharp tone and repeated a number of times more as
an explosive than otherwise, for it is a warning of danger and a
call for instant action from the mother-Cat, who is imperious in her
demands for obedience, which is the first law in her family life.
The sounds of the labials, b, f, m, p, v, w and y, are more
frequently heard in words of anger than otherwise, as, for instance,
in the significant war-cry and notes of defiance, out on the
woodshed, in the hours of the night when fair Luna is enthroned in
the peaceful sky, in contradistinction to the battle-field in the
back yard. This may be written "mie-ouw, vow, wow teiow yow tiow, wow
yow, ts-s-s-s-syow!" ending in an explosion. The signification is
both a defiance and a curse, and comes so near to bold, bad swearing
that I hesitate to put in words the English of it. The word "yow,"
means extermination from the face of the earth, and when the common
word "mieouw" is used with strong emphasis upon the first syllable,
it means "beware!" for the fur is about to fly.
XXI.
CAT WORDS IN COMMON USE.
The disposition of the Cat to mouth her words has given the
impression to many who have studied her utterances to conclude that
most, if not all of her words begin with the sound of the letter
"m," and this is an error which cost me months of wasted time while
seeking to evolve the Cat language. It is natural for a Cat, as well
as a necessary precaution in every animal, including man, to keep
the mouth closed and breathe only through the nostrils, excepting
while in the act of eating, drinking or speaking. It will be noticed
that when the mouth is open the sound that comes most naturally and
readily is that of the letter "m." The deception originated in this
fact. I will admit a tendency of the feline to anticipate the word
with this sound, but to suppose that every word of the Cat language
commences with that sound is erroneous. The plaintive cry for food,
"aelio," was, for a long time, set down by me with the letter "m"
preceding it, and it was not until I had appreciated the uselessness
of that letter preceding the word "lae," meaning "milk," that I
disregarded the letter "m," and arrived at the true spelling of these
and many other words which were uttered singly or at the beginning
of a sentence. The word "alieeo," meaning "water," is subject to the
same misspelling, there being no "m" at the beginning of it, but the
word uttered at the door, when the Cat wants it opened, "parrierre,"
meaning "open," is never preceded with the labial, as it could not be
pronounced in company with the letter "p."
The utterance of the word "bl" may have been noticed by an observer
when the mother-Cat has brought a mouse to her kitten. I have given
as close a resemblance to the sound as possible, in the English
language, and it signifies "meat," and not "mouse," as one might be
led to suppose, "ptleo-bl," meaning "mouse-meat," and "bleeme-bl,"
cooked meat.
The word "pad" means "foot," and "leo" signifies "head." "Pro" is the
feline for "nail or claw," and "tut" for "limb," while the body is
called "papoo" and the fur "oolie."
The most surprising characteristic of the Cat is, undoubtedly, her
wonderful appreciation of the passage of time and the invariable
correctness with which the feline notes the hour and even the
minutes after the hour, without the aid of, or even appearing to
comprehend the value of a clock in computing time. This wonderful
gift was one of the first of my discoveries, as it was one of the
most interesting rewards for my labors. Appreciating that the Cat
must have recourse to sounds for the expression of the hours in
their conversation, I applied myself to the study of them, and was
astonished at the rapidity with which I acquired the Cat-words
standing for numbers. In this labor I was materially aided by my
knowledge of the tendency of the feline to gesticulate, and when a
number was spoken I noticed, regarding the lowest of them, that the
Cat would significantly pat her foot, say once for one; twice for
two and so on, even to seven times occasionally. The highest numbers
were not difficult of attainment by the Cat language, because of
the lack of gesticulations comprehensive of the quantity. By other
signs I arrived at a correct conclusion and became as perfect in the
words and their meanings as the Cat herself. I was greatly rejoiced
at this easy victory, and regarded it as a good omen of success in
my more difficult undertaking of acquiring the full language, not
anticipating the years of toil, whose arduousness, however, was
lightened, at long intervals, by success. The numbers, correct beyond
doubt, are as follows:
1.--Aim.
2.--Ki.
3.--Zah.
4.--Su.
5.--Im.
6.--Lah.
7.--El.
8.--Ic.
9.--No.
10.--End.
11.--Est.
12.--Ro.
13.--Zah-do.
14.--Sudoo.
15.--Im-doo.
16.--Lah-doo.
17.--El-doo.
18.--Ic-doo.
19.--No-doo.
20.--Ki-le.
21.--Kile-aim.
22.--Kile-ki.
23.--Kile-zah.
24.--Kile-su.
25.--Kile-im.
26.--Kile-lah.
27.--Kile-el.
28.--Kile-ic.
29.--Kile-no.
30.--Zah-le.
31.--Zahle-aim.
32.--Zahle-ki.
33.--Zahle-zah.
34.--Zahle-su.
35.--Zahle-im.
36.--Zahle-lah.
37.--Zahle-el.
38.--Zahle-ic.
39.--Zahle-no.
40.--Su-le.
41.--Sule-aim.
42.--Sule-ki.
43.--Sule-zah.
44.--Sule-su.
45.--Sule-im.
46.--Sule-lah.
47.--Sule-el.
48.--Sule-ic.
49.--Sule-no.
50.--Im-le.
51.--Imle-aim.
52.--Imle-ki.
53.--Imle-zah.
54.--Imle-su.
55.--Imle-im.
56.--Imle-lah.
57.--Imle-el.
58.--Imle-ic.
59.--Imle-no.
60.--Lah-le.
61.--Lahle-aim.
62.--Lahle-ki.
63.--Lahle-zah.
64.--Lahle-su.
65.--Lahle-im.
66.--Lahle-la.
67.--Lahle-el.
68.--Lahle-ic.
69.--Lahle-no.
70.--El-le.
71.--Elle-aim.
72.--Elle-ki.
73.--Elle-zah.
74.--Elle-su.
75.--Elle-im.
76.--Elle-lah.
77.--Elle-el.
78.--Elle-ic.
79.--Elle-no.
80.--Ic-le.
81.--Icle-aim.
82.--Icle-ki.
83.--Icle-zah.
84.--Icle-su.
85.--Icle-im.
86.--Icle-lah.
87.--Icle-el.
88.--Icle-ic.
89.--Icle-no.
90.--No-le.
91.--Nole-aim.
92.--Nole-ki.
93.--Nole-zah.
94.--Nole-su.
95.--Nole-im.
96.--Nole-lah.
97.--Nole-el.
98.--Nole-ic.
99.--Nole-no.
100.--Aim-hoo.
The word "hoo" means "hundred." The word "milli" stands for
"thousands" in the English language. The word "zule" means
"millions," and a millionaire in the Cat language is a "zuluaim."
Concerning the sense of the arrangement of sounds for the numbers I
have nothing to say, for I cannot account for their selection, but
the musical sweetness of the sounds in conjunction is wonderfully
striking. Mark the euphony of the language in the expression of
numbers conjunctively, for instance, in expressing the amount
ninety-nine millions, seven hundred and forty-three thousands,
two hundred and thirty-four--"nole-no zulus, el hoo sule-zah
millis, ki hoo zahle-su." Again, let the ear catch the music as I
give you, in the Cat language, the expression of one hundred and
fifty-seven millions, six hundred and fifty-four thousands, eight
hundred and thirty-nine--"aim hoo imle-el zulus, lah hoo imle-su
millis, ic hoo zahle-no." Once more, let me express the euphony
in the interpretation into the Cat language of eight hundred and
eighty-eight millions, four hundred and ninety-one thousands, seven
hundred and sixty-five--"ic hoo icle-ic zulus, su hoo nole-aim
millis, el hoo lahle-im." Now take the table and you may find much
pleasure in making up your own combinations of figures, none of which
will be other than musical.
The expression of the time of day by the man on the tramway, is the
expression of the time of day in the Cat language by the feline as,
for instance, in telling that the time was eight-eighteen, the Cat
would say "ic ic-doo;" twelve forty-five would be "ro sule-im;" nine
thirty-seven, "no zahle-el;" three thirty-three, "zah zahle-zah;"
eight thirty-eight, "ic zahle-ic;" two twenty-two, "ki kile-ki;"
four thirty-nine, "su zahle-no;" five fifty-five, "im imle-im;" six
twenty-three, "lah kile-zah," and so forth.
XXII.
A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF WORDS.
It is not my intention in this mere paper to give a lexicon of the
feline language. So short a treatise could not comprise so elaborate
a work. Even were the space adequate, I have not, as yet, accumulated
the information, because the time devoted to the subject has not
been adequate to the labor of investigation, which is, necessarily,
intricate and far-reaching. Neither do I propose to mystify the
reader by giving that most misleading of all inventions of the
linguist, a grammar of the feline language, any more than I intend
to inflict a dictionary upon the world. If I succeed in presenting
to the reader a comprehensive, or in any appreciable or satisfactory
degree comprehensive conception of the Cat language, demonstrating
what I know of my own knowledge, after years of investigation, that
the Cat has a distinct, simple and fully adequate language, universal
for all particular purposes, and intelligible to all felines, as
well as to all humanity who will seek to acquire it, I will have
accomplished my object for the present. In this paper my desire
is to lay the foundation for a larger structure in the future. My
greatest desire is to interest the world in this worthy subject and
induce investigations by others. I have no wish to be selfishly
exclusive. I do not seek any honor or remuneration for my labors and
discoveries. My reward will come with the reward to the feline, which
must necessarily follow that elevation of the Cat succeeding the
recognition of the fact claimed by me.
I have not yet discovered that any naturalist, linguist, philologist
or scientist has, thus far, either presented or advocated the theory
of the feline language comprehensive enough to be understood by man,
but I bear in mind what your great Shakespeare wrote, "There are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreampt of in your
philosophy," and allow, without dispute, that all I have written may
have been thought out and even printed by some other writer than
myself, but it is, at least, new to me, and I think the reader will
admit that it is new to him as an entirety. Of course every reader
has heard the peculiar cries and expressions of the Cat, and will
remember some word or words, and will have no difficulty in following
up his or her investigations.
Remembering that mere words form but a very small part of the feline
language, I desire to lay particular stress upon the signs which,
in the Cat language, are paramount and always intelligible to man,
no matter what tongue he may choose to speak or from what part of
the world he may come. One of the beauties, as well as one of the
advantages of the muscular signs of an expression is that it needs
no grammar, no dictionary, no elaborate treatise upon rhetoric,
etymology, syntax, prosody or other advantages of belles-lettres,
to refine and perfect it. Because of this happy fact, the
uneducated man, as we are apt to call those who are ignorant of our
acquirements, may express his thoughts as fluently, as correctly and
as gracefully as his superiors in knowledge, wealth and refinement.
By the sign-language a whole sentence may be expressed better in a
fraction of a second than by the word language in a much greater
space of time. Therefore, its importance is of inestimable value.
I have already given seventeen of the most important words of the
feline language, with their English equivalents, as follows: