Genre:

Extract, Reminiscences, Spoof; Editorial, Afterword

Publications extracted:

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine

Subjects:

Natural History, Heredity, Government, Animal Behaviour, Astronomy

    The rat-narrator observes: 'When I was in the House of Lords, a companion whispered to me, that he had heard an act read, offering a reward of 10,000l. for a male tortoise-shell cat. This I believe, indeed, is a very safe offer, for such a thing was never heard of' (398). Also records that he 'studied astronomy with the celebrated M. Olbers of Bremen, and assisted him in making many useful observations and discoveries', particularly concerning the likelihood of the earth being destroyed by a collision with a comet (399).