“A Cat that had been the inhabitant of a nursery, and the playmate of the children, had all at once become sullen and ill-tempered. It had taken refuge in an upper room, and could not be coaxed from the corner in which it had crouched. It was nearly dark when I went. I saw the horrible glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of her as I wished, and I said that I would call again in the morning. I found the patient on the following day precisely in the same situation and the same attitude, crouched up in a corner, and ready to spring. I was very much interested in the case; and as I wanted to study the countenance of this demon, for she looked like one, I was foolishly, inexcusably imprudent. I went on my hands and knees, and brought my face nearly on a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring eyes and that horrible countenance, until I seemed to feel the deathly influence of a spell stealing over me. I was not afraid, but every mental and bodily power was, in a manner, suspended. My countenance, perhaps, alarmed her, for she sprang on me, fastened herself on my face, and bit through both my lips. She then darted down-stairs, and, I believe, was never seen again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket; even now I am never without it. I washed myself and applied the caustic with some severity to the wound; and my medical adviser and valued friend, Mr. Millington, punished me still more after I got home. My object was attained, although at somewhat too much cost, for the expression of that brute’s countenance will never be forgotten.” [Illustration: DOMESTIC CATS--A STUDY.] Except as fur-bearing animals, Cats are made no direct use of, save as Mouse and Rat-catchers. In this capacity they are quite invaluable, for these destructive little Rodents increase and multiply to such an extent, that if it was not for some such check as that afforded by the presence of a good mouser, many places would be as much overrun, and the inhabitants put to as much inconvenience, as were the people amongst whom Dick Whittington’s lot was cast. With regard to the number of these plagues of which a single Cat can rid the neighbourhood, it is stated by M. Lenz, as a well-ascertained fact, that a Cat of ordinary size is fully capable of catching and eating twenty Mice a day, or 7,300 a year! Besides Rats and Mice, they are fond of insects, such as Cockroaches; and in some countries, such as Paraguay, they are found to be of great value in killing Serpents, which, however, they are said never to eat, slaying them by repeated dexterous blows of the paw, simply for the sport.