Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

THE BIOLOGY OF SEXbe considered unesthetic, except the earlier stages otumescence.That the utilization of the sexual excitation obtainablethrough the channels of the erogeniczones must be consideredwithin the normal range of variation, we may observe,indeed, among many animals. It isonly when theyare used to procure not merely tumescence, but detumescence,that such excitations can be termed in any sense,"perversions," and then they are so only in the sameambiguous sense as are the methods of intercourse whichinvolve the use of checks to prevent fecundation.The kiss is the typical example of this group of phenomena.We have in the lips a highly sensitive frontierregion between skin and mucous membrane, in many respectsanalogous to the vulvo-vaginal orifice, and reinforcible,moreover, by the active movements of the stillmore highly sensitive tongue. Close and prolonged contactof these regions, therefore, under conditions favorableto tumescence setsup a powerful current of nervous stimulation.After those contacts in which the sexual regionsthemselves take a direct part, there is no such channelfor directing nervous force into the sexual sphere as thekiss. This is specially marked for the so-called columbinekiss, widely practised by lovers in classic as well as inmodern times. A form of it called maraichinage is generallypractised in a part of France, though some theologianswould regardit as a mortal sin. Manifestations resemblingthe kiss are found among various animals lowerthan man, as in the palpations of the antennae by snailsand insects, the caresses of birds by their bills, the lickingand gentle biting of dogs, and of various animals incoitus. In man, the kiss has two elements, one tactile andthe other olfactory, but the tactile element is at oncethe most ancient and in Europe the most predominant[47]