Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/18

4 to refrain from speculating as to what it actually is.

So, for instance, says Aarestrup; but he adds as a sort of explanation—

which has not brought us nearer to a solution of the question. Other poets give us an allegorical transcription, couched in vague poetical terms, which rather refer to the feelings of which the kiss may be an expression than attempt to define its physiology. Thus Paul Verlaine defines a kiss as "the fiery accompaniment on the