Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 12.djvu/410

394 be sure that we have not discovered its origin. The truth of this implication will seem less improbable on observing sundry ways in which spontaneous manifestations of emotion initiate formal observances.

The ewe bleating after her lamb that has strayed, and smelling now at at one and now at another of the lambs near her, but at length, by its odor, identifying as her own one that comes running up, doubtless, thereupon, experiences a wave of gratified maternal feeling; and, by repetition, there is established between this odor and this pleasure such an association that the first habitually produces the last; the smell becomes, on all occasions, agreeable by serving to bring into consciousness more or less of the philoprogenitive emotion. That, by some races of mankind, individuals are similarly identified, the Bible yields proof. Though Isaac, with senses dulled by age, fails thus to distinguish his sons from one another, yet the fact that, unable to see Jacob, and puzzled by the conflicting evidence his voice and his hands furnished, "he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him," shows that different persons, even members of the same family, were perceived by the Hebrews to have their specific odors. And that perception of the odor possessed by one who is loved, yields pleasure, proof is given by another Asiatic race. Of a Mongol father, Timkowski writes: "He smelt from time to time the head of his youngest son, a mark of paternal tenderness usual among the Mongols, instead of embracing." Describing the Philippine-Islanders, Jagor says: "The sense of smell is developed among the Indians to so great a degree that they are able, by smelling at the pocket-handkerchiefs, to tell to which persons they belong ('Reisesk,' page 39); and lovers at parting exchange pieces of the linen they may be wearing, and during their separation inhale the odor of the beloved being, besides smothering the relics with kisses." So, too, is it with the Chittagong Hill people. Lewin tells us that "their manner of kissing is peculiar. Instead of pressing lip to lip, they place the mouth and nose upon the cheek and inhale the breath strongly. Their form of speech is not, 'Give me a kiss!' but 'Smell me!'" And now note a sequence. Inhalation of the odor given off by a loved person coming to be a mark of affection for him or for her, it happens that since men wish to be liked, and are pleased by display of liking, the performance of this act which signifies liking initiates a complimentary observance, and gives rise to certain modes of showing respect. The Samoans salute by "juxtaposition of noses, accompanied, not by a rub, but a hearty smell. They shake and smell the hands also, especially of a superior." And there are like salutes among the Esquimaux and the New-Zealanders.

The alliance between smell and taste being so close, we may naturally expect a class of acts which arise from tasting, parallel to the class of acts which smelling originates; and the expectation is fulfilled. That the billing of doves or pigeons and the like action of