{"product_id":"2940015830262","title":"The Domestic Cat","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCLASSIFICATION: ITS BASIS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the feline world you find no such diversity, of form, shape,\u003cbr\u003edisposition, coat, size, etc, as you do in the canine.  Dogs differ from\u003cbr\u003eeach other in both the size and conformation of the skeleton, and in\u003cbr\u003emany other important points, almost as much as if they belonged to\u003cbr\u003eentirely different species.  Mark, for instance, how unlike the bulldog\u003cbr\u003eis to the greyhound, or the Scotch toy-terrier to the English mastiff;\u003cbr\u003eyet, from the toy-terrier upwards to the giant Saint Bernard, they are\u003cbr\u003eall _dogs_, every one of them.  So is the jackal, so is the fox and the\u003cbr\u003ewolf.  The domesticated dog himself, indeed, is the best judge as to\u003cbr\u003ewhether any given animal belongs to his own species or not.  I have\u003cbr\u003etaken dogs to different zoological gardens, and have always found that\u003cbr\u003ethey were ready enough to hob-nob with either jackal or fox, if the\u003cbr\u003elatter were only decently civil; but they will turn away with\u003cbr\u003eindifference, or even abhorrence, from a wild goat or sloth.  But among\u003cbr\u003ethe various breeds of cats there exists no such characteristic\u003cbr\u003edifferences, so that in proposing a classification one almost hesitates\u003cbr\u003eto use the word \"breed\" at all, and feels inclined to search about for\u003cbr\u003eanother and better term.  If I were not under a vow not to let my\u003cbr\u003eimagination run riot in these papers, but to glide gently over the\u003cbr\u003esurface of things, rather than be erudite, philosophical, theoretical,\u003cbr\u003eor speculative, I should feel sorely tempted to pause here for a moment,\u003cbr\u003eand ask myself the question--Why are there so many distinct breeds of\u003cbr\u003ethe domesticated dog, and, properly speaking, only one of the more\u003cbr\u003ehumble cat?  Did the former all spring from the same original stock, or\u003cbr\u003eare certain breeds, such as the staghound, etc, more directly descended\u003cbr\u003efrom the wolf, the collie, Pomeranian, etc, from the fox after his kind,\u003cbr\u003eand other breeds from animals now entirely extinct in the wild state?\u003cbr\u003eAnd once upon a time, as the fairy books say, did flocks of wolves,\u003cbr\u003efoxes, wild mastiffs, and all dogs run at large in these islands,\u003cbr\u003eclubbing together in warlike and predatory bands, each after his kind,\u003cbr\u003emuch in the same way that the Scottish Highlanders used to do two or\u003cbr\u003ethree hundred years ago?  Animals of the dog kind are a step or two more\u003cbr\u003eadvanced in civilisation, if I may be allowed to use the term, than\u003cbr\u003ecats; and hence, as intelligence can appreciate intelligence, and always\u003cbr\u003eseeks to rise to a higher level, more breeds, or a larger number of\u003cbr\u003especies, of the former than of the latter have forsaken their wild or\u003cbr\u003enatural condition to attach themselves to man.  May not the time come,\u003cbr\u003ein the distant future, when a larger variety of feline animals shall\u003cbr\u003ebecome fashionable--when domesticated tigers, tame lions, or pet ocelots\u003cbr\u003eshall be the rage?  If so, that will indeed be the millennium for cats.\u003cbr\u003eJust fancy how becoming it would be to meet the lovely and accomplished\u003cbr\u003eMiss De Dear out walking, and leading a beautiful leopard by a slight\u003cbr\u003esilver chain, or Lady Bluesock in her phaeton, with a tame ocelot beside\u003cbr\u003eJohn on the dickey!  A lady beside a lion on the lawn would, I think,\u003cbr\u003emake a prettier picture than one by the side of a peacock, and a tame\u003cbr\u003eBengalese tiger would be a pet worthy to crouch at the foot of a throne.\u003cbr\u003eTo be sure, little bits of mistakes would occur at times; instead of\u003cbr\u003ethe pussy of the period bolting away with the canary, nothing less would\u003cbr\u003esatisfy the pet than a nice fat baby, and then those extraordinary\u003cbr\u003epeople the cat--exterminators would be louder in their denunciations\u003cbr\u003ethan ever.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121252548848,"sku":"2940015830262","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015830262","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}