"It must be considered what harmes and perils come vnto men by this beast. It is most certaine that the breath and sauour of cats consume the radicall humour and destroy the lungs, and therefore they which keepe their cats with them in their beds haue the aire corrupted and fall into feuer hectickes and consumptions. There was a certaine company off Monkes much giuen to nourish and play with Cattes, whereby they were so infected, that within a short space none of them were able either to say, reade, pray, or sing, in all the monastery... the haire also of a cat being eaten vnawares, stoppeth the artery and causeth suffocation... to conclude this point it appeareth that this is a dangerous beast, & that therfore as for necessity we are constrained to nourish them for the suppressing of small vermine: so with a wary and discreet eie we must auoyde their harmes..."
Edward Topsell,
The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes
A little-known health risk: cats breathing in your bed.
Brilliant, thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteScary how ignorant people were...and that this old wive's tale still holds, as you still hear people warning against cats sleeping with babies.
ReplyDeleteAllergies.
ReplyDeleteExactly, and toxoplasmosis to ensure cat zombies.
DeleteSo that's why cat hair in food is such a bad thing. As if our arteries aren't in enough danger already from the things we eat on purpose ...
ReplyDeleteCats shouldn't sleep with babies as cats can curl up around a baby's head/face and suffocate it. Babies can't push a cat away like a child can. I've owned a cat almost my whole life.
ReplyDeleteConsider what else people believed back in good 'ole 1607. Hardly a surprise.
ReplyDeleteI nourish and play with cats.
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ReplyDeleteSo that's what happened to my radicall humours!! (BTW, I'm really hoping that some of this content makes it into Ms. Amber Bassett's "cheap assignment writing service" lol!)
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