THE CAT’S MIND

Evening Star, Issue 20128, 19 March 1929, Page 7

THE CAT’S MIND

REMARKABLE EXPERIMENTS When you find an assistant of psychology at Columbia University devoting a whole volume to the miml and maimers of the modern cat yon are surprised. When you find her dedicating the book quite seriously to her mother you are secretly amused, even while accepting the dedication as proof of filial affectjpn. But what is most astonishing is tho amount of study which the volume shows to have been given to the subject and the scientific care shown in collating and recording results

Dr Georgina Strickland Gates entitles her book ‘ The Modern Uat ’ (relates the ‘Age’), and succeeds in investing the subject with interest, not only to cat lovers, but to all who are concerned to get truth where so many fictions abound. The learned ami painstaking author has in true scientific fashion divested her mind of all sentiment, and cares for nothing hub facts. Her inferences are marked by, the proper degree of non-commitalisiu. Pussy has been credited as an accurate and punctual nurse, a true friend,a student of cause and effect, a gentle philosopher, and even a miracle worker, but the expert in comparative psychology insists on scientific accuracy of experiments, observations, and interpretations. Dr Gates has placed'on record tho results secured under such conditions, and tho conclusions drawn v. ill be disappointing fo cat -worshippers, though quite satisfactory to every too v else.

How many of us know that during the war the British Government advertised for common cats —any number? They were used to defect gas in tho trenches. Ben Jonsou bought oysters for his pet cat, Lord Chesterfield Icit his cat a pension, and a President ol; the United States when heading a, procession turned aside in order not to disturb a grey cat lying in the way. Everybody else had to make a detour round that cat. But when did cat worship reach a higher level than is shown in an advertisement in a Gorman newspaper :—“’Wanted by a- lady ol rank, lor adequate remuneration, a few wellbehaved and respectably dressed children to anm.se a cat in delicate health two or three hours a clay ” ?

For 3,000 years the cat lias kept herself wrapped in mystery, and <»;r inability to solve it has found relief either ’ in collecting stories which merely, 1 deepen the mystery or in betaking ourselves to such experimental methods as ingenuity can suggest. Popular belief credits cats with ability to open doors fastened’ by latches.- > Thorndike made boxes with coors . which might bo opened by pulling; a cord, pressing a lever, or step-g ping on a platform. Then bo loimclk twelve common cats, and one which had' not breakfasted was put in one of the. boxes outside of which was a piece of fish. What happened ? The cat showed', •signs of discomfort, tided to squeeze* J through the opening, clawed and bit) at wires, and went on doing so lor ton. ( minutes. In the course of her oxer- 1 tions her paw pulled the loop, which-» opened the door; she escaped and wan) fed. After feeding she was put back. , Did she pull the loop again? No; once • more she begins biting and struggling. Previous experience had taught her iio-v thing. Nevertheless, if the training is 1 continued it will Ire found that by Iho • twelfth time she has learned some- . thing. All biting and scratching came to an end. the loop at once. Dr Gates experimented on these linen t with two cats, and in somewhat anabi--gous fashion with college girls, and by j means of curves showed in each case | the time required to learn how to os- | cape. The cat curves are gradual: tho | human graphs display a quick drop. "I bo reasoning powers of tho cat might cause t astonishment to some persons, but all that happened was that the tendency to claw the. loop strengthened through ; repetition, and through the fact that it > brought release and food. There was no functioning of ideas or notions. i Is it true that a. cat when dropped < always lands on her feet? She has ( been photographed in tho act of falling.) t “If she is held with her back down, | her legs inclining to tho right,’ she will. ■■ turn to that side; if the legs point more to the left the rotation will £ be in that direction.” Sbo can turn.) herself through any angle by a- scries • of contractions of fore and bind legs- * alternately. Even if tho distance ol; the fall is only Ift she can “do the turn.” _ ; There are many stories in circiila-: tion regarding tho homing powers of cats. What has science to say to tho assertion that after a cat had been shut in a box and sent by train to a place seventy-five miles away it lound its way home again? Fabro owned many cats, and lias left on record the story of a tom carried in a hamper to a friend at tho other end of the town.,_ Back ho camo very promptly, making ids way through a long labyrinth of crowded, streets, and as Ids lur was streaming wet Fabre argued that be must have swum across tho river. Dr Gates ventures the suggestion that .swimming a, river is not the only way in which a cat can got wot. Experiment is the sound method, for it goes hand in hand with carotid observation. A cat which was nursing kittens was placed in a sack and carried by motor car six times to'distances up to three miles in all directions. When released in a quiet place she. made an immediate orientation towards homo and a. quick start, in that direction. ■' By next morning she was hack with her kittens. Finally she was taken sixteen and a-half miles away, and ‘never returned. The old method of keeping the wandering cat at horns by buttering her feet is effective, probably because the cat’s attention is engaged for a, time, and she becomes accustomed to her new borne. Egyptian monuments and tombs have representations of eats going with their masters to fish, or retrieving fish front. the water. There are stories of cats . in our own lime becoming expert fishers, and the explanation given is that accidents built up the skill,_ _ • Cats are said to be very sensitive to ; sneii physical changes as earthquakes, j They arc animal seismographs. Before | an earthquake comes they “ draw hack their cars and bristle their fur.” Their ; bodies tremble, their eyes glitter, andj they mew pitifullly. _ Dogs, horses,* sheep, and birds are similarly uneasy.;!) Scientists hazard the conjecture that dislocation of the earth's crust produces electric! tv, aml tin’s a fleets a nimals. Cats can bo trained by means _ 0r.,., punishments and rewards, hut the diffi-e" culty is to link the signal and tho' performance. Repetition is an indis* pensable condition. Is the eat intelligent and affectionate? Take away some of her kittens. Does she show on coming hack to tho others that some of her _ children are missing? Generally she is quite complacent. ; ; : The cat lives in a colourless, toneless world, remembers no past, and anticipates no future. This is , .the cat’s mind as interpreted by science.