One hundred years ago
THE momentous question, Why do cats always fall on their feet? has been asked and answered by the French Academy of Sciences, after many experiments and much instantaneous photographing of cats in the air. M. Maurice Levy gave a mathematical demonstration that the cat can, by cer- tain movements of its body, turn round In the air without any external assis- tance. His theorem is, — "A natural system can pivot on and by itself if cer- tain of its points have, in comparison with others, such a degree of liberty as to describe curves without hampering the movement of the other points of the system." That has a fine air of sci- ence; but we confess we find more com- fort in the gymnast who writes to the TernPs:— "Just as an acrobat," he says, turns a somersault in the air by press- ing his chin on his breast and his knees en his thorax, thus making his centre of gravity pass from one point to another, so the cat, a born acrobat, is equally expert." Mr. Rudyard Kipling must give us a new jungle story showing how the cat took to amusing the beasts and birds of the forest by a variety enter- tainment, and so obtained her nine lives. The Spectator 3 November 1894
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