Chaf. XI. DISGUST. 250 



As the sense of smell is so intimately connected with 

 that of taste, it is not surprising that an excessively bad 

 odour should excite retching or vomiting in some per- 

 sons, quite as readily as the thought of revolting food 

 does; and that, as a further consequence, a moderately 

 offensive odour should cause the various expressive move- 

 ments of disgust. The tendency to retch from a fetid 

 odour is immediately strengthened in a curious manner 

 by some degree of habit, though soon lost by longer 

 familiarity with the cause of offence and by voluntary re- 

 straint. For instance, I wished to clean the skeleton 

 of a bird, which had not been sufficiently macerated, 

 and the smell made my servant and mvself (we not hav- 

 ing had much experience in such work) retch so vio- 

 lently, that we were compelled to desist. During the 

 previous days I had examined some other skeletons, 

 which smelt slightly: yet the odour did not in the least 

 affect me, but, subsequently for several days, whenever 

 I handled these same skeletons, they made me retch. 



From the answers received from my correspondents 

 it appears that the various movements, which have now 

 been described as expressing contempt and disgust, pre- 

 vail throughout a large part of the world. Dr. Rothrock, 

 for instance, answers with a decided affirmative with 

 respect to certain wild Indian tribes of Xorth America. 

 Crantz says that when a Greenlander denies anything 

 with contempt or horror he turns up his nose, and gives 

 a slight sound through it. 9 Mr. Scott has sent me a 

 graphic description of the face of a young Hindoo at 

 the sight of castor-oil, which he was compelled occa- 

 sionally to take. Mr. Scott has also seen the same ex- 

 pression on the faces of high-caste natives who have 



9 As quoted by Tylor, ' Primitive Culture,' 1871, vol. i. 

 p. 169. 



