In many places people are in the habit of saluting with their noses. This is the so-called Malay kiss, which consists in rubbing or merely pressing one’s nose against another person’s nose. This nose-salute is found among the Polynesians, Malays, Esquimaux, certain negro tribes in Africa--in short, just among the majority of races which are ignorant of kissing as we understand it. Darwin thus describes the Malay kiss: “The women squatted with their faces upturned; my attendants stood leaning over them, laid the bridge of their noses at right angles over theirs, and commenced rubbing. It lasted somewhat longer than a hearty hand-shake with us. During this process they uttered a grunt of satisfaction.”[28] The French _savant_ Gaidoz, who has also described this custom, remarks, “I have many times observed that cats which are fond of one another greet each other in this way; and I myself once had a cat which always tried to squeeze its nose against mine as a mark of affection.”[29] Everything is in favour of this nose-salute being a very primitive custom, and its origin may be sought beyond the sense of touch; no doubt, in the sense of smell. Spencer has arrived at the following conclusions: The sheep bleats after her little lamb which has run away. It sniffs at several lambs that are skipping about near her, and at last recognises her own by means of the sense of smell, and undoubtedly feels great delight at recognising it. In consequence of assiduous repetitions of this a certain relation is developed between the two factors, so that the smell of the lamb excites joy in the sheep. As every animal has its peculiar smell, so, too, has every human being. When the patriarch Isaac grew old his eyes began to get dim, and he could not see. He wished to bless his eldest son, Esau, but Jacob deceived him by clothing himself in his brother’s garments, and giving himself out as the latter. Isaac then said to him: “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said: “See the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.” The sense of the smell peculiar to some one we are fond of is capable of exciting pleasure. Timkowski writes of a Mongol father that the latter time after time smelt his youngest son’s head. This mark of paternal tenderness serves with the Mongols instead of kisses. In the Philippine Islands, the sense of smell is so developed that the inhabitants, by simply sniffing at a pocket-handkerchief, can tell to whom it belongs; lovers who are separated send one another presents of bits of their linen, and, in their absence, keep each other in mind by often inhaling each other’s scent. That the delicate perfume that exhales from a woman’s body plays an important part in love affairs even with modern civilised nations is too well-known to require more than a passing mention on my part.