Page:The art of kissing (IA artofkissing987wood).djvu/19

 That Roman love-kisses were not frigid is indicated by many lines in the poets. Thus Catullus wrote:

Horace, in one of his odes, refers to the same nibbling propensity of Roman women and men:

The Spread of Kissing.—With this good start, the admirable custom of kissing spread over the world: but its progress was slow. It did not conquer the Orient: Japan, China, India, still have small use for it. Among nearly all the black races of Africa, not only is the kiss between lovers unknown, but the mother's kiss is usually unknown. Among the American Indians, the lip kiss was not found, although the mouth might be used in the love episode. The Fuegians, in South America, have the custom of lovers rubbing their cheeks together. The present limited kissing among Australian natives may be due to white lessons.

Today, the kiss is known through Europe, and among Europeans everywhere, with the single exception of Lapland. Yet, even in Europe, it is a comparatively modern discovery, spreading first to the higher classes, and then down. One medieval ballad has the lady of the castle discover that a varlet has substituted himself for the absent lord during the night, by remembering that the varlet embraced with-