474 COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 



of neglect or ill-usage. Inexplicable attractions are not 

 however more common than inexplicable repulsions or anti- 

 pathies a subject that falls to be considered in the chapter 

 on ' Individuality.' 



It is quite relevant to, or in connection with, the sub- 

 ject of courtship and marriage to refer to some of these 

 demonstrations of affection or attachment which in the lower 

 animals are humanlike in their character. The most im- 

 portant are the kiss, embrace, and caress. 



The operation of kissing, or some equivalent process, 

 has been described as practised by a considerable number 

 of animals including, in the first place, various quadru- 

 mana, such as the chimpanzee, orang, and various baboons ; 

 the dog and cat, horse, cattle, sea-bear ; cockatoo and other 

 birds. In some cases the operation would appear to consist 

 simply of the fond rubbing together or touching of mouths, 

 lips, noses, or beaks, and in no case is there, so far as I am 

 aware, exactly the same kind of smacking of the lips that 

 occurs in man. The significance of the process, whatever 

 be its nature, which is necessarily determined by the struc- 

 ture of the animal, is the same as in man ; that is to say, 

 that, while usually an expression of endearment, it may also 

 be one of simple salutation or greeting. 



The sea-bear of the London Zoological Gardens used to 

 try to kiss its keeper, the French sailor Lecomte ; and I have 

 myself seen a horse do the same in a circus or hippodrome. 

 In both cases it was attempted at the command of their 

 masters, and by the touching of noses or lips. Wood de- 

 scribes a cat kissing a dog ; f she greeted him with a kiss ; 

 literally, they touched lips and noses.' And there can be 

 no doubt about the dog offering its caresses, in the form of 

 lip or nose-touching, as well as tongue-licking or touching, 

 to man. Berkeley speaks of a greyhound ' covering him 

 with kisses.' A cockatoo is described, on the other hand, 

 as soliciting by word and action a kiss from a long-absent 

 mistress (Wood) . The amicable rubbing of noses by cattle, 

 donkeys, or horses over or on different sides of a hedge or 

 fence is a familiar spectacle in country districts. Horses 

 express familiarity with each other by mutual rubbing of 

 noses (Nichols). 



