than a hasty coitus." Such kisses, as well as on the
face generally, and all over the body, are frequently referred to by
Hindu, Latin, and more modern erotic writers as among the most efficacious
methods of arousing love.[208]

A reason which may have stood in the way of the development of the kiss in
a sexual direction has probably been the fact that in the near East the
kiss was largely monopolized for sacred uses, so that its erotic
potentialities were not easily perceived. Among the early Arabians the
gods were worshiped by a kiss.[209] This was the usual way of greeting the
house gods on entering or leaving.[210] In Rome the kiss was a sign of
reverence and respect far more than a method of sexual excitation.[211]
Among the early Christians it had an all but sacramental significance. It
retains its ancient and serious meaning in many usages of the Western and
still more the Eastern Churches; the relics of saints, the foot of the
pope, the hands of bishops, are kissed, just as the ancient Greeks kissed
the images of the gods. Among ourselves we still have a legally recognized
example of the sacredness of the kiss in the form of taking an oath by
kissing the Testament.[212]

So far we have been concerned mainly with the tactile kiss, which is
sometimes supposed to have arisen in remote times to the east of the
Mediterranean--where the vassal kissed his suzerain and where the kiss of
love was known, as we learn from the Songs of Songs, to the Hebrews--and
has now conquered nearly the whole of Europe. But over a much larger part
of the world and even in one corner of Europe (Lapland, as well as among
the Russian Yakuts) a different kind of salutation rules, the olfactory
kiss. This varies in form in different regions and sometimes simulates a
tactile kiss, but, as it exists in a typical form in China, where it has
been carefully studied by d'Enjoy, it may be said to be made up of three
phases: (1) the nose is applied to the cheek of the beloved person; (2)
there is a long nasal inspiration accompanied by lowering of the eyelids;
(3) there is a slight smacking of the lips without the application of the
mouth to the embraced cheek. The whole process, d'Enjoy considers, is
founded on sexual desire and the desire for food, smell being the sense
employed in both fields. In the form described by d'Enjoy, we have the
Mongolian variety of the olfactory kiss. The Chinese regard the European
kiss as odious, suggesting voraciou