Captivated By Cats?
By tony leather, 17th Aug 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutGuidesPetsCats
Of course the other feature of the feline eye that seems disturbing is the
vertical iris in the eye, which opens far wider than any human eye could.
Captivated By Cats?
You either love them or hate them, but you just can't ignore cats. They
have such an air of mystery and superiority that you almost feel inclined to
salute them. What incredible animals they are, with those eyes that seem to
glow with some unearthly fire in the black of night, but there is nothing
supernatural about this.
Truth is that cat's eyes have a light-reflecting layer that sits behind the
retina of the eye, acting as a mirror and causing that disquieting shine.
The first guy who really noticed - Percy Shaw of England in 1934 - made
millions by copying the idea and coming up with the 'cat's eyes' that
decorate roads all over the world today.
Of course the other feature of the feline eye that seems disturbing is the
vertical iris in the eye, which opens far wider than any human eye could.
Is it any wonder that they see so well in the dark, or that so much folklore
and mythology has grown around them? Even though not once mentioned in the
bible, cats have been attributed with divine powers for as long as men can
remember.
Americans love their own cat superstitions. Early colonists believed that a
broth made from boiling a black cat would cure tuberculosis, though killing
the animal would bring the cook bad luck . One US superstition has it that,
when moving to a new home, you should put the cat in through the window, not
the door, so that it will never leave.
A cat sneezing in your presence is a sign of good luck, though dreaming of a
cat is sometimes thought of as meaning bad luck in the future. Conversely,
American folklore has it that dreaming of a white cat is good luck. Ancient
myth contends that cats have great influence on the weather. Witches riding
storms did so as cats, while dogs, as attendants of storm king Odin,
symbolized the wind. This could be where "it's raining cats and dogs"
originated
In ancient times, a criminal would sometimes have his tongue cut out, and
fed to the feline pets of the judges. Cat got your tongue? In darkness they
are masters of stealth, with night vision six times better than we poor
humans. One 1639 book of charms and spells included one for poor eyesight
than involved burning the head of a black cat to ash, then blowing the dust
into the failing eyes three times a day!
An old English cure for a stye on the eyelid was to rub it with the tail of
a black cat. Ancient Celts believed that the cat's eyes were the doorway to
another world, while the old Egyptians thought they were rays of sunshine,
symbolizing the Sun god Ra, who could even light up the underworld.
There are also ludicrous tales about cats and dead bodies. For example, they
believe in Transylvania that if a cat jumps over a corpse, it will become a
vampire. Early Christians saw a cat sat on a person's grave as a sign that
the dead soul was in the devil's power. 16th century Italian people believed
a black cat lying on the bed of a sick man meant that he would die. The
legend of 9 lives may be to do with the "trinity of trinities", considered
lucky. An American proverb says that ' A cat has 9 lives. For 3 he plays,
for 3 he strays, and for the last 3 he stays'.
When someone has good vision they are often said to have 'the eyes of a cat'
, simply because so much myth surrounds these animals. They were used to
tell the time in ancient China and to predict the tides, and they were
actually revered as gods in ancient Egypt. Perhaps what we love most about
them is that fierce independence and haughty nature.
We never really own the cats. If anything it's the other way round, because
when they go out, you never really know if they'll be back. You just hope
they will. There are few things in life more disquieting than trying to
stare down a cat.
Those big, round, bottomless pits of eyes will hold you spellbound for as
long as it amuses their owner, because it has been recognized for some time
that a cat's pupils widen in moments of intense emotion. Clever as we humans
might think we are, we just can't resist the power of those captivating
cats, and their truly incredible eyes
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