II 



SENSIBILITY OF THE INTEENAL OEGANS 



69 



M = mental area ; LS = superior laryngeal area ; LT = inferior laryngeal area ; 

 T0 = hyoid area. 



The following table shows the relations between the cutaneous areas and 

 the internal organs : 



IV. Of internal sensations summed up under the generic 

 name of " desires/' that for food is certainly one of the most im- 

 portant from the teleological point of view, because it is directed 

 to satisfying one of the conditions indispensable to life the supply 

 of nourishment. In its milder stages this desire is not unpleasant 

 and is even an agreeable feeling, commonly known as " appetite " ; 

 when more insistent it becomes painful and oppressive and is 

 known as " hunger." 



In most of the higher animals and man appetite and hunger 

 are rhythmical sensations, which do not occur until a certain time 

 after the meal, according to the habits of the individual. In man 

 they are generally felt 5-6 hours after the morning meal, 12 hours 

 after the evening meal. "Kegularity of meals," said Beaunis, 

 "causes the sensations of hunger to recur with the precision of 

 clockwork." Change of habit in the hours of meals is able to 

 modify the rhythm of hunger : if the meal is delayed 1-2 hours 

 the appearance of hunger is delayed by a corresponding time. 



The degree of hunger varies conspicuously in different in- 

 dividuals, and in relation to age, to the rate of metabolism in 

 different constitutions, in different seasons, different professions, 

 and so on. 



Generally speaking, hunger is an unpleasant sensation at the 

 level of the epigastric region, which disappears and is replaced by 



