Sight is naturally the most important of the senses. Like hearing, it is a long distance sense, which does not require close proximity2 like smell, nor close contact like taste and touch.
Thru association of memories, sight becomes the perfect, all embracing, descriptive sense, able to substitute for all the other senses.
A glance reveals not only the color, size and shape of an object, but its consistency3, firmness or softness, its state of preservation4 or deterioration5, its probable odor and taste, etc.
[Pg 57]
Sight perceives the exposed and obvious fetishes and, thru memory associations, imagines those which are neither exposed nor obvious.
Visual sensations are the most powerful experienced by the organism; a slight injury to the optic nerve produces a greater shock than major injuries to any other nerve of the body. The popularity of the movies is based upon that characteristic. To the unimaginative, primitive6 people who relish7 that childish form of entertainment, visual sensations replace and suggest almost every other form of sensory8 gratification.
I have shown in Chapter III that the large majority of fetishes are visual, being impressions of color and size, which were produced on the child's visual nerves thru close proximity with the mother's body.
Auditory Sensations which enhance erotic states also hark back very obviously to infancy9. The caressing11 tone of the lovers' voices, the well modulated12 words of praise which they speak to each other in a low monotonous13 sing-song during their embraces, the baby talk in which so many lovers indulge, remind one unavoidably of the crooned lullabies with which the loving mother created a state of peace and safety that would enable the nursling to doze14 off.
[Pg 58]
Smell. In animals the sense of smell plays probably a more important part than the sense of sight. In man the olfactory15 sense has become more negative and protective than positive. It enables him to avoid rather than to locate certain objects. This partial atrophy16 of the positive olfactory capacities is undoubtedly17 due to the progress of hygiene18 and cleanliness in human life.
The child whose mother is carefully shampooed and bathed will not consider strong odors emanating19 from hair or arm pits as a symbol of safety. On the contrary, they will be something foreign to him, hence suggestive of danger.
In ancient times, bodily odors were frequently mentioned as love stimulants20. The Homeric poems, the Song of Songs, the Kamasutra and other Hindoo erotic works, the Arabian Perfumed Garden and even in more recent times, poems like Herrick's "Julia's Sweat," extolled21 strong body odors which at the present day not only are deemed offensive but cannot be mentioned except in medical writings.
Odors can be, not only fetishes but very often[Pg 59] powerful antifetishes. This is partly due to a repression23 of the child's interest in his excretions which later burst forth24 in the use of perfume by women, smoking by men and women. Cigar smoking for instance supplies an outlet25 for a number of childish polymorphous perversions26, to use Freud's expression.
In this case as in many others, violent repugnance27 to odors good or bad in adulthood28 may be traced to a morbid29 craving30 for them in childhood.
The Sense of Taste is not very important in love, altho some experienced lovers detect a distinct flavor in the skin of various parts of one woman's skin, cheeks, arms, etc.
Taste observed in purely31 nutritional32 activities reveals constantly its unconscious infantile origin. However completely we may have been weaned, we constantly pay a tribute of appreciation33 to our first food.
The exaggerated and unjustified importance we attribute to milk in the diet of adults, the way in which we designate a white complexion34 as "milky35" or "creamy," and in which we praise many tender foods by stating that they are "like cream" or "melt in our mouth" illustrates36, together with the popularity[Pg 60] of breast fetishism, the influence which infantile gustatory impressions have made on all of us.
Touch is probably as important as sight for physico-chemical reasons. All animals seem to enjoy the close contact of other animals of their own species. Even on very warm days, puppies, kittens and young birds derive37 a very great comfort from being huddled38 together in kennel39, basket or nest.
There are two reasons for that craving for contact. The safest period of our life which our automatic nerves remember is the fetal period during which the contact of the child with the womb is constant and in perfect relation to the fetus40' growth.
Also, contact facilitates the electrical exchanges between human beings, especially between male and female, exchanges which owing to the removal of organic inhibitions, must be singularly powerful between lovers.
Holding Hands. Whenever conditions separate their bodies, lovers generally revert41 to the childish practice of holding hands, which to the child meant an assurance of safety when led by the strong parents and also facilitated electrical exchanges of distinct value to the young and old alike.
The Kiss. This brings us to the consideration of[Pg 61] a love manifestation42 in which sensations of a tactile43, gustatory and olfactory character are combined: the kiss.
The kiss, curiously44 enough, is found both in certain animal and human races but not in all human races.
Many mammals, birds and insects exchange caresses45 which remind one of the human kiss. "Love birds" seem to spend much of their time kissing each other.
On the other hand, Eastern races do not seem to relish the caress10 which Western peoples call a kiss. In China a form of affectionate greeting corresponding to our kiss consists in rubbing one's nose against the cheek of the other person after which a deep breath is taken thru the nose with the eyes half-shut.
In some primitive races the equivalent for our "kiss me" is "smell me." In other races, the kiss is a manifestation of respect rather than a proof of love. Anglo Saxons on certain occasions kiss the Bible. In the early Christian46 and Arab civilisations, the kiss was a ritual gesture and has remained so in certain Catholic customs: kissing the pope's foot, relics48, a bishop's ring, etc.
In certain races, kissing is a proof of affection but not of love. Japanese mothers kiss their children[Pg 62] but Japanese lovers do not exchange caresses of the lips, according to Lafcadio Hearn.
The dark races of Africa are ignorant of that caress and so are the Malays, the aborigines of Australia and many other primitive tribes.
The Birth of the Kiss. It appears that even among the kissing races, the kiss is a relatively49 recent development. It is rarely mentioned in Greek literature. In the Middle Ages it was a sign of refinement50, being almost unknown among the lower classes.
Some analysts51 have come to the conclusion that the kissing habit is derived52 from sucking the mother's nipple.
If this was the proper explanation, all the races would naturally indulge in it.
The kiss is infinitely53 more complicated than that. The Freudian explanation should not be discarded entirely54 but it does not explain everything.
The kiss has grown in importance with the restrictions55 placed by civilisation47 on sexual activities. The more primitive the races, the more promiscuous56 they are and the less they kiss.
The kiss seems to have become among the more repressed and advanced races a displacement57 up[Pg 63]ward of the act of possession, a sublimation58 of intercourse59. It is, next to sexual union, the closest contact which the male and female may attain60.
Kisses and Electricity. If we adopt Crile's theory according to which the life stream is an electric current produced by the brain and constantly discharging itself, we may realise concretely the import of the kiss.
The physical union is probably the neutralisation of two electric currents, positive and negative, altho we do not know as yet what correspondence there is between sexes and opposite electric currents. Anyone familiar, however, with experiences in galvanotropism, some of which I have mentioned in Chapter II, will when reflecting upon the way in which the spermatozoon directs itself infallibly toward the egg, conclude that it is headed toward a strong electric current issuing from the woman's womb and ovaries.
The kiss is only a milder, less complete neutralisation of the currents issuing from two human beings.
If the kiss on the lips is preferred by lovers, it is because the moist mucus of the lips is a better conductor of electrical current than the skin. In very passionate61 kisses, the lovers' tongues play a double part, a symbolic62 part, representing the mother's[Pg 64] nipple, and a physico-chemical part, securing a closer connection, like plug and socket63 in electric appliances.
In Anglo-Saxon fiction which does not countenance64 descriptions of lovers' embraces, a very passionate kiss is always symbolical65 of complete surrender. Physiologically66 this symbolism is quite accurate.
The temporary exhaustion67 which follows a protracted68 kiss is often equal to that following a lovers' embrace and this can be easily understood when we remember the protracted electrical discharge which must follow the contact of the conductive surfaces of the mucus of the lips.
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1 durable | |
adj.持久的,耐久的 | |
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2 proximity | |
n.接近,邻近 | |
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3 consistency | |
n.一贯性,前后一致,稳定性;(液体的)浓度 | |
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4 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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5 deterioration | |
n.退化;恶化;变坏 | |
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6 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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7 relish | |
n.滋味,享受,爱好,调味品;vt.加调味料,享受,品味;vi.有滋味 | |
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8 sensory | |
adj.知觉的,感觉的,知觉器官的 | |
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9 infancy | |
n.婴儿期;幼年期;初期 | |
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10 caress | |
vt./n.爱抚,抚摸 | |
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11 caressing | |
爱抚的,表现爱情的,亲切的 | |
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12 modulated | |
已调整[制]的,被调的 | |
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13 monotonous | |
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的 | |
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14 doze | |
v.打瞌睡;n.打盹,假寐 | |
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15 olfactory | |
adj.嗅觉的 | |
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16 atrophy | |
n./v.萎缩,虚脱,衰退 | |
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17 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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18 hygiene | |
n.健康法,卫生学 (a.hygienic) | |
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19 emanating | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的现在分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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20 stimulants | |
n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 );含兴奋剂的饮料;刺激物;激励物 | |
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21 extolled | |
v.赞颂,赞扬,赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 allusions | |
暗指,间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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23 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
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24 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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25 outlet | |
n.出口/路;销路;批发商店;通风口;发泄 | |
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26 perversions | |
n.歪曲( perversion的名词复数 );变坏;变态心理 | |
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27 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
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28 adulthood | |
n.成年,成人期 | |
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29 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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30 craving | |
n.渴望,热望 | |
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31 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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32 nutritional | |
adj.营养的,滋养的 | |
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33 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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34 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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35 milky | |
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的 | |
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36 illustrates | |
给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明 | |
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37 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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38 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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39 kennel | |
n.狗舍,狗窝 | |
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40 fetus | |
n.胎,胎儿 | |
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41 revert | |
v.恢复,复归,回到 | |
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42 manifestation | |
n.表现形式;表明;现象 | |
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43 tactile | |
adj.触觉的,有触觉的,能触知的 | |
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44 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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45 caresses | |
爱抚,抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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46 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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47 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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48 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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49 relatively | |
adv.比较...地,相对地 | |
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50 refinement | |
n.文雅;高尚;精美;精制;精炼 | |
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51 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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52 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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53 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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54 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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55 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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56 promiscuous | |
adj.杂乱的,随便的 | |
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57 displacement | |
n.移置,取代,位移,排水量 | |
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58 sublimation | |
n.升华,升华物,高尚化 | |
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59 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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60 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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61 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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62 symbolic | |
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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63 socket | |
n.窝,穴,孔,插座,插口 | |
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64 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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65 symbolical | |
a.象征性的 | |
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66 physiologically | |
ad.生理上,在生理学上 | |
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67 exhaustion | |
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述 | |
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68 protracted | |
adj.拖延的;延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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