CHAPTER XIV 

 KISSES 



11 Among thy fancies, tell me this, 

 What is the thing we call a kiss ? 

 I shall resolve ye what it is." 



ROBERT HERRICK 



ISSING is an extremely ancient habit of mankind 

 coming to us from far beyond the range of history, and 

 undoubtedly practised by the remote animal-like ancestors 

 of the human race. Poets have exalted it, and in these 

 hygienic days doctors have condemned it. In the United 

 States they have even proposed to forbid it by law, on the 

 ground that disease germs may be (and undeniably are in 

 some cases) conveyed by it from one individual to another. 

 But it is too deep-rooted in human nature, and has a sig- 

 nificance and origin too closely associated with human 

 well-being in the past, and even in the present, to permit 

 of its being altogether " tabooed " by medical authority. 



There are two kinds of " kissing " practised by mankind 

 at the present time one takes the form of " nose-rubbing " 

 each kiss-giver rubbing his nose against that of the 

 other. The second kind, which is that familiar to us in 

 Europe, consists in pressing the lips against the lips, skin, 

 or hair of another individual, and making a short, quick 

 inspiration, resulting in a more or less audible sound. 

 Both kinds are really of the nature of " sniffing," the 



13 



