A cat never gives in to coercion. Liberty is the last thing it will resign; and often it will not resign that except in exchange for death. The cat should be used as the emblem of liberty.

It is a mistake to suppose that a cat cares only for places, for it is only the innate conservatism of the animal that gives this impression. Regularity is the keynote of its existence and what it does one day it likes to do the next; and certainly to places where it has been reared and has lived it shows great attachment. But on the contrary there are cats that would settle down anywhere, that have crossed and recrossed the Atlantic Ocean, and have lived quietly in any locality their owners chose. A cat is one of the finest mothers on earth.

The fortunes of the cat are now more or less regulated by clubs and associations, and there are homes, hospitals, and refuges in many places and in many lands. The principal clubs are the National Cat Club founded in 1887, with headquarters in London; the Scottish Cat Club, founded in 1894; the Cat Club, London, founded in 1898; the Northern Counties Cat Club, the Silver and Smoke Persian Cat Society, the Siamese Club, and the Orange, Cream, Fawn, and Tortoise-shell, founded in 1900; the Black and White Club, the Blue Persian Society, the Chinchilla Cat Club, the Short-haired Cat Club, the Midland Counties Cat Club, the British Cat Club, and the Manx Cat Club, founded in 1901. All the above are in Great Britain, but many have members in America. In the United States there are the Beresford Cat Club, founded in 1899, with headquarters in Chicago; the Atlantic Cat Club, with headquarters in New York; the Chicago Cat Club, the Louisville Cat Club, the Pacific Cat Club, the Orange and Cream Society, with headquarters in Chicago, the Washington, D. C., Cat Club, the Detroit Club, etc. All these have been founded since 1899; so we can see that the advances made of late years have been sudden and rapid; and they will continue to grow; for shows are held in many of the principal cities and are yearly fixtures. The Chicago shows have brought together the largest number of cats, 259, at the show held in the Coliseum in January 1902. Prices for cats increase; and whereas $25 was considered a good price five or six years ago, some of the best have been recently sold for $250 each, and many at $75 and $100. The largest price of which we have record as having actually been paid in cash for a cat is $300, which was the price Lady Decies paid Mrs. Greenwood for Lord Southampton; although I expect to see this exceeded in time to come, for competition enhances values, and the best specimens and most perfect will bring high prices from those who want them. All this will tend to draw attention to the cat and better the race and its general conditions.

Cats have had their artists: the Egyptians, the Japanese, the Chinese, Salvator Rosa, Gottfried Mind ("The Raphael of Cats"), Burbank (a master little known), Cornelius Wisscher, the Dutch artist, whose "Tom" cat has become typical, J. J. Grandville, Harrison Weir, Louis Wain, Madame Ronner, and Adam.

Members of the English royal family breed and exhibit cats at the regular exhibitions of the present day. The Duchess of Connaught, the sister-in-law of the King, was the organizer of

the National Cat Club, one of the associations which maintains a thoroughly reliable stud-book for cats; Queen Alexandra herself is one of the active members of the Ladies' Kennel Club, and both Princess Christian and her daughter, Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, have taken many first prizes with their valuable feline pets.

A Few Hints to Breeders.-Do not try to keep too many; a good cat well reared will bring more money than 8 or 10 badly nurtured, undersized kittens. Cats are not gregarious, and when crowded together become diseased and mangy, and prematurely die. One litter of really good cats will give more pleasure and profit to the owner than five or six litters of poor ones.

Liberty is necessary to the health alike of the present and of the coming generations, and these latter should never be out of our minds when mating.

Meat is the main diet of all the carnivora to which order domestic cats belong. The best diet for cats is composed largely of meat, for which their teeth are adapted. Without meat they will not long remain healthy. They vary in their tastes, and what is fancied by one is not always preferred by another. Fish they are fond of, but as a rule house-cats should not be given much raw fish. Cats kept in confinement should have grass, vegetables, and changes of diet provided for them. Grass is a necessity.

Epidemics that sweep through different countries and continents at stated periods decimate the cat family, and it is well to be prepared for such occasions by having none but the healthiest and best of animals. Distemper, the greatest of cat scourges, is best treated by nursing, care, and cleanliness. Fleas convey embryonic worms which infest cats, and should be rigorously kept down. They breed in cracks in the floor, in bedding, and in the ground, and war waged upon their haunts will be work well laid

out.

Do not use nauseating drugs for ailing cats, but choose the mildest remedies that will effect a cure. Do not be prejudiced against a course of treatment till you have tried it well; and remember that supposed cures suddenly made are not always effectual. Cats, when ill, require sympathy as much as human beings, and more so than any other animal, in order to battle successfully with disease, for they have a tendency to be very pessimistic and sorry for themselves, and to recover or fail quickly. They suffer mostly from distemper, worms, eczema, bronchitis, pneumonia, and liver diseases, and occasionally from catarrhal fever. If you acquainted with a good homoeopathic physician, and have any idea of what ails your cat, consult him and abide by his advice.

are

Do not breed from your queens too young, although many good kittens have been raised from queens not a year old, if strong and healthy. Male cats will not mate as early in life as the queens, and are seldom of much use till a year old. Do not cross long-haired cats with short-haired cats, for you spoil the type of both. Siamese cats will breed with other cats, but the progeny are never good for the showroom; and the Siamese being a distinct breed, does not amalgamate with any of the other varieties. The Manx cat is better kept pure, or

the type degenerates and the result is not satisfactory.

Remember, when trying to rear good cats, that what goes in at the mouth and the care bestowed upon the young and growing animals cover 50 or even 75 per cent of essential requirements. The best blood in the world will not bring prize-winners or nice pets if they are badly reared. The crucial period takes in the first six months; when the young cat is well grown, and at seven months of age is through teething, you will have an animal that may live 20 years or more. Healthy cats are more longlived than dogs, and authentic records tell of not a few over 20 years of age, and of some even 30.

Kittens should not be taken away from their mothers before they are at least eight weeks old; and if three months old, it will be still better. Care should be exercised in the diet of kittens at an early age. Sudden changes or sudden chills will bring on gastritis. Milk, unless pure, is more dangerous than meat, which in a raw state may be given scraped or minced at a very early age. Milk is better when mixed with Robinson's prepared barley according to the directions on the box. unless you can obtain warm milk from a cow that has not been too long in milk. The most dangerous diet for highly bred kittens is cold skimmed milk of an uncertain age.

To destroy a cat, or put it out of its misery when too sick to recover, administer a few drops of chloral, place the cat, if possible, in a tight box, and when the cat is fast asleep drop into the box a sponge saturated with two or three ounces of chloroform.

Bibliography.-Woodruffe Hill, 'Diseases of the Cat'; Mrs. Cashel Hoey, 'The Cat, Past and Present'; Agnes Repplier, The Fireside Sphinx'; C. H. Ross, 'Book of Cats; Frances Simpson, The Book of the Cat'; Harrison Weir, Our Cats'; H. M. Winslow, Concerning Cats; and the following periodicals: Our Cats (Manchester, Eng.); The Cat Journal' (Palmyra, N. Y.); Fur and Feather) (London); and the 'Ladies' Field.'

E. N. BARKER.

Cat-bird, one of two kinds of birds. (1) In North America a familiar songster (Galeoscoptes carolinensis), so called because of its mewing call-note, which is strikingly similar to the plaint of a kitten in distress. This, however, is not its only note, its wild and melodious warbling in the morning and the evening being also typical of the musical thrush family to which it belongs. It is about nine inches long, and of a dark slate color, with a black cap, and a reddish patch under the tail. It is migratory only in the northern States, spends its winters in the South, and frequents bushy pastures and gardens, being one of the few species which follow the course of agriculture, and being rarely found far from the habitations of the farmer. It is of great service to the agriculturist in devouring wasps, grubs, worms, and insects, which, with fruits and berries of all kinds, especially of sumach, sweet gum and poke, constitute its food. It has a brilliant and varied song, in which it seems to mimic the notes of other birds; when in a domestic state it will imitate strains of instrumental music. The nest, generally built in bramble thickets,

is large, and constructed of twigs and briers mixed with leaves, weeds, and grass, lined with dark fibrous roots arranged in a circular manner. Its eggs, from four to six in number, are of a greenish-blue color, without spots. Its attachment to its young is remarkable, and it will often feed and raise the young of other birds. It migrates during the night. It frequently attacks the common blacksnake, which, in the absence of the bird, rifles its nest. (2) In Australia, one of the bower-birds (Ailuradus crassirostris), so named because of its catlike call.

Cat-boat, a boat having one mast stepped just abaft the bow and carrying a sail laced mainsail. In general cat-boats are very broad to a boom and gaff, resembling a schooner's in beam, averaging 1:3. They are usually equipped with a centre-board, which, with the extreme forward position of the mast, enables them to point high into the wind, and makes them remarkably quick in stays. They are principally employed as pleasure craft on the United States, and are consequently of shallow coasts and inland navigable waters of the

draft.

Cat Island, one of the Bahama Islands, about 46 miles in length from north to south, and three to seven miles in its mean breadth. Pop. 3,000. This island was long identified with the Guanahani of Columbus, the first portion of land belonging to the New World on which he landed, 12 Oct. 1492. It is now thought by most that not this island but Watling Island, lying a little to the southeast, is the true Guanahani, the first landfall of Columbus.

Cat-owl, any of several widely distributed large owls, so called because of their feline American cat-owl is the barrel owl (Syrnium habits and cat-like face. The best known nebulosum), one of the largest birds of its length. It has no ear-tufts, and the general kind, large specimens reaching 24 inches in color is whitish, everywhere transversely barred with deep umber brown, except on the abdomen, where the stripes run lengthwise. It is a lover of the woods, where its coughing cry resounds afar in the darkness, and where it breeds in hollows or among the branches of

trees.

It is not migratory, and often nests very early in the spring. This owl has the reputation of being especially destructive of poultry, but in truth it lives mainly on mice, of which it devours vast numbers each season, and hence is the benefactor rather than the marauder of the farm. Consult Fisher, 'Hawks and Owls of the United States.'

Cat-shark, any of various members of the Scylliorhinida, a group of true sharks which are characterized by having two dorsal fins, the anterior of which is placed over or behind the ventrals, and by having the tail not bent upward. Some of these are called also "roussettes." The name cat-shark is also applied to the leopard-shark (Triakis semifasciatus).

Cat-snake, a small opisthoglyph (see OPISTHOGLYPHA) serpent (Tarbophis vivax) of Asia Minor and southeastern Europe. Its color is dull; it is sluggish in movement; and reaches

length of three feet. It has long, recurved teeth in the lower jaw which serve to hold its prey (mainly lizards) until they are overcome by the snake's grooved poison-fangs. It is distinguished by being the only venomous snake of the opisthoglyph type in Europe.

Catabangenes. See CATUBANGANES. Catacaos, kä-tä-kä'os, Peru, a city centrally situated in the maritime department of Piura, and on the Piura River. It is about 70 miles east of Piura, the capital of the department. Pop. 25,000.

Catachre'sis, a term used in rhetoric with a somewhat vague signification. It denotes any trope or figure of speech that is considered to be too violent. Thus any trope, whether a metaphor, an instance of metonymy, or any other, may become a catachresis if it is stretched too far. For example, the scriptural phrase "the blood of the grape" is often quoted as a case of catachresis, because it is thought too violent a metaphor to use "blood" for the blood-red juice of the grape.

Cat'aclysm, in geology, a physical catastrophe of great extent, supposed to have occurred at different periods, and to have been the efficient cause of various phenomena observed in the surface configuration of localities. The belief in cataclysmic movements as geological agents has largely given place to that in the working of ordinary agencies over long periods of time.

Cat'acombs, subterranean caves or vaults used as burial-places. All nations have been accustomed to some outward manifestation of regard for the dead, such as funeral solemnities, the consecration of grounds for sepulture, the erection of monuments, etc. Some nations, as the Egyptians, constructed pyramids and labyrinths to contain the remains of the departed. Others, as the Phoenicians and after them the Greeks, hollowed out the rocks for tombs, surrounding their towns with vast magazines, containing the bones of their fathers. Asia Minor, the coast of Africa, and Cyrenais, afford instances of these singular and gigantic works. The discovery of these monuments has always excited the curiosity of travelers and the attention of artists. The latter have applied themselves to learn from them the character of architecture and painting at different epochs; and though they have often found only coarse representations, the productions of art in its infancy or decline, they have occasionally met with types of perfection. Many monuments of this description have been preserved to days, and still contain traces of the painting and architecture with which they were decorated. There are catacombs existing in Syria, Persia, and among the most ancient Oriental nations. But the revolutions in these countries, and the changes which they have occasioned, have deprived us of the documents which would have given us exact information regarding them. The description of the catacombs in Upper Egypt gives us an idea of those whose existence is still unknown to us. They contain the history of the country, and the customs and manners of the people, painted or sculptured in many monuments of the most admirable preservation. The subterranean caves of these countries, like almost all of the kind, have their origin in quarries. From the depths of the

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CATACOMBS

mountains which contain them, stone was taken, which served for the building of the neighboring towns, and also of the great edifices and pyramids which ornament the land. They are dug in a mountain situated in the neighborhood of the Nile, and furnished the Romans with materials for the construction of buildings in their colonial establishments. The excavations of 15 to 20 leagues, and form subterraneous in these mountains are found throughout a space but there is neither order nor symmetry in caverns which appear to be the work of art; ments, low and irregular vaults, supported in them. They contain vast and obscure apartdifferent parts with piles left purposely by the workmen. Some holes, of about six feet in length and two feet wide, give rise to the conjecture that they were destined for sepulchres. Cells of very small dimensions, formed in the hollows of these obscure caverns, prove them to have been the abode of recluses.

In Sicily and Asia Minor a prodigious number of grottoes and excavations have been discovered containing sepulchres. Some appear to have served as retreats to the victims of despotism. The greater part are the work of the waters which traverse the mountains of these regions, as for instance the great cave of Noto, which passes for one of the wonders of Sicily. This cave, the height, length, and breadth of which are equal, has been formed by the Cassibili River, which runs at the bottom, and traverses it for the length of 100 fathoms. In the interior of this cave are a number of houses and tombs. At Gela, on the south coasts, there are abodes for the living and sepulchres for the dead, cut in the rocks; at Agrigentum subterraneous caves, labyrinths, and tombs, arranged with great order and symmetry. There are also caverns in the environs of Syracuse which may be ranked with the principal monuments of this description, from their extent and depth, their architectural ornaments, and from some historical recollections attached to them. The catacombs in the tufa mountains of Capo di Monte, near Naples, consist of subterraneous galleries, halls, rooms, basilicas, and rotundas, which extend to the distance of two Italian miles. Throughout there are seen niches for coffins (loculi) and bones. A description of them was given by Celano in 1643. They probably owe their origin to the quarries which afforded tufa for the walls of the cities Palæopolis and Neapolis, and afterward served as sepulchres for the Christian congregations.

The most numerous and extensive catacombs are those in the immediate neighborhood of Rome, at San Sebastiano, San Lorenzo, etc., the earliest of which of certain date belongs to the year III A.D. They are composed of interminable subterraneous galleries, extending underneath the town itself as well as the neigh boring country, and are said to contain not les than 6,000,000 tombs. The name of catacombs, according to St. Gregory, was at first applied to designate exclusively the cave in which the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul were buried, and it was only at a later period that it came to be given to all the subterraneous passages which were used as public burying-places. It is now regarded as certain that in times of persecution the early Christians frequently took refuge in the catacombs, in order to celebrate

there in secret the ceremonies of their religion; but it is not less certain that the catacombs served also as places of burial to the early Christians, and that in spite of the contrary opinion which prevailed for two centuries, and even down to our day, the catacombs were not for the most part abandoned quarries, but were excavated by the Christians themselves. It is found that originally the cemeteries of Rome were made up of separate tombs, which rich Christians constructed for themselves and their brethren, and which they held as private property under the protection of the law. But in course of time this was changed. At the end of the 2d century there existed certain cemeteries not the property of individuals but of the Church. Such was that which Pope Zephyrinus (202-19) intrusted to the superintendence of Calixtus, and which took its name from that bishop. Some years later, under Pope Fabian (236-51), there were already several such common burying-places belonging to the Christian congregations, and their number went on increasing till the time of Constantine, when the catacombs ceased to be used as burying-places. From the time of Constantine down to the 8th century they continued to be used as places of worship by the Christians, but during the siege of Rome by the Lombards they were in part destroyed, and soon became entirely inaccessible, so that they were forgotten. The first excavations in them were made by Antonio Bosio between 1560 and 1600. The results of these excavations were published in his 'Roma Sotterranea' (Rome, 1632), which translated into Latin by P. Aringhi (Rome 1657). Among the more modern works on the subject may be mentioned: Rochette's 'Tableau des Catacombes de Rome' (Paris 1837); Perret's 'Les Catacombes de Rome (Paris 1851-6); and 'La Roma Sotterranea Cristiana by De Rossi (Rome 1864-77), containing the results of very careful investigations made by the author, who is justly regarded as the foremost student, in fact, father of this branch of archæology.

was

The catacombs of Paris, situated on the left bank of the Seine, are almost equally celebrated. The name itself, which has been given to this labyrinth of caverns and galleries from its resemblance to the asylums and places of refuge of the persecuted Christians under Naples and Rome, informs us of the purpose to which it has been applied since 1786. These galleries were originally the quarries from which materials were excavated for constructing the edifices of the capital. The weight of the superincumbent houses rendered it necessary to prop them; and when the cemeteries of the demolished churches and the burying-grounds were cleared in 1786, the government resolved to deposit the bones in these quarries, which were consecrated for that purpose. The first cemetery that was suppressed was the Cimetière des Innocents, and the bones from it were deposited beneath what is now Petit-Montrouge. The ossuary now extends much farther. The relics of IO or more generations were here united in the repose of the grave. Many times as great as the living tide that rolls over this spot is its subterraneous population. By the light of wax tapers, a person may descend about 70 feet to a world of silence, over which the Parisian police keep watch as strictly as over

the world of noise and confusion above. He will then enter a gallery where only two can go abreast. A black streak on the stones of the walls points out the way, which, from the great number of by-passages, it would be difficult for the visitor to retrace without this aid or without guides.

Among the curiosities here is a plan of the harbor of Mahon, which an ingenious soldier faithfully copied from memory, in the material of the quarries. Entering the hall, one is ushered into the realms of death by the inscription which once stood over the entrance to the churchyard of St. Sulpice: "Has ultra metas requiescunt beatam spem exspectantes" ("Beyond these bounds rest those awaiting the hope of bliss fulfilled"). Narrow passages between walls of skeletons; chambers in which monuments, altars, candelabra, constructed of human bones, with festoons of skulls and thigh-bones, interspersed occasionally with inscriptions, not always the most happily selected, from ancient and modern authors, excite the gloomy impression which is always produced, even in the most light-minded, by the sight of the dissolution of the human frame. Wearied of these horrible embellishments, the visitor enters a simple chapel, without bones, and containing an altar of granite. The inscription "D. M. II et III Septembr. MDCCXCII." recalls to memory the victims of the September massacres, whose remains are here united. On leaving these rooms, consecrated to death, where, however, the air is always preserved pure by means of air-holes, the visitor may pass to a geological cabinet, formed by Héricart de Thury, the director of the Carrières sous Paris. Specimens of the minerals furnished by the regions traversed, and a collection of diseased bones, in a contiguous hall, scientifically arranged, are the last curiosities which these excavations offer. More than 600 yards to the east of the road to Orleans the visitor finally returns to the light of day. Strangers may visit the catacombs in company with the government officials at the periodical visits. An account of these subterranean passages is that which was published by M. Dunkel in 1885.

The Etruscan tombs were not, strictly speaking, catacombs, yet as subterranean places of sepulture they may appropriately be referred to. They were usually hewn out of cliffs on the sides of a hill and were variously arranged, sometimes tier above tier and sometimes on a level. There was a central chamber with smaller ones opening from it. In the latter there were stone benches to receive the bodies of the dead.

Catacoustics, kǎt-a-koos'tiks or -kows'tiks, the science which treats of reflected sounds, or that part of acoustics which considers the prop