ting the bloodvessels of the brain by stimulating the facial
nerve. The motor reactions of cutaneous excitations favor this
hypothesis." (Fere, _Travail et Plaisir_, Chapter XV, "Influence
des Excitations du Toucher sur le Travail.")

The main characteristics of the primitive sense of touch are its wide
diffusion over the whole body and the massive vagueness and imprecision of
the messages it sends to the brain. This is the reason, why it is, of all
the senses, the least intellectual and the least aesthetic; it is also the
reason why it is, of all the senses, the most-profoundly emotional.
"Touch," wrote Bain in his _Emotions and Will_, "is both the alpha and the
omega of affection," and he insisted on the special significance in this
connection of "tenderness"--a characteristic emotional quality of
affection which is directly founded on sensations of touch. If tenderness
is the alpha of affection, even between the sexes, its omega is to be
found in the sexual embrace, which may be said to be a method of
obtaining, through a specialized organization of the skin, the most
exquisite and intense sensations of touch.

"We believe nothing is so exciting to the instinct or mere
passions as the presence of the hand or those tactile caresses
which mark affection," states the anonymous author of an article
on "Woman in her Psychological Relations," in the _Journal of
Psychological Medicine_, 1851. "They are the most general stimuli
in lower animals. The first recourse in difficulty or danger, and
the primary solace in anguish, for woman is the bosom of her
husband or her lover. She seeks solace and protection and repose
on that part of the body where she herself places the objects of
her own affection. Woman appears to have the same instinctive
impulse in this respect all over the world."

It is because the sexual orgasm is founded on a special adaptation and
intensification of touch sensations that the sense of touch generally is
to be regarded as occupying the very first place in reference to the
sexual emotions. Fere, Mantegazza, Penta, and most other writers on this
question are here agreed. Touch sensations constitute a vast gamut for the
expression of affection, with at one end the note of minimum personal
affection in the brief and limited touch involved by the conventional
hand-shake and the conventional kiss, and at the other end the final and
intimate contact in