OCR Text |
Show ! WTIS WzMosiCexieL of '' ' X l' " - , , ,,','-, 3 y rt - , - 1 , 1 . - . ; ' ' . ; r , ' . , ' s ; j A detail from the famous painting, "The Question," by D. T. Langee, which shows a prisoner on the torture rack being burned slowly, a punishment which was often varied with the equally cruel method of tickling tick-ling the prostrate man to death. Science Explains How It Is Really Dangerous to Babies, How Prisoners Were Once Tortured to Death by It, Why We Suffer So From It and How We Dread It, Because Our Prehistoric Ancestors Were Often Fatally Stung by Crawling Insects f-HT,L? CIENCB hus'put forth a f XI l'pmllrliallly interesting V iC f cxplauutioii of just how C J man cntue to tie ticklish. j gK Through the famous pen ' rr' t'oor"e w- -;ri,e- f V3tfiC',a iroffssor of surgery at Western Heserve I'ni-versit.v, I'ni-versit.v, l.'leveliiuil. Ohio, it speaks. He lias written lately a new book. "Man An Adaptive Mechanism" (The Macmillan Company I, in which he describes how modern mod-ern man Inherits the tickling sensation from his prehistoric ancestors. Ills theory Is that everything in the human lioily can he interpreted as an adaptation adap-tation of something that happened in the early history of the race and that it is the result of long evolution and constant struggle strug-gle of man for survival. The tickling fceliug, acco-rling to Dr. i 'rile's theory, is the result of certain experiences ex-periences which the cave men, clad in skins hack in ancient times, enduret.. lie says that there are two kinds of tickling sensations, aie the response to a sharp pressure, the other the response to the tnseetlike, slow scratch across a tender surface of skin. To this first feeling man reacts by struggling from it ; to the second he responds by scratching the place where the tickling sensation is felt. Life Once Depended On It. It was necessary in prehistoric times that man should be ticklish, for often his life depended ujwn it. Insects of that little known time were unquestionably bigger and more dangerous than they rre now. Various Va-rious sjieeies of them existed by sucking blood, and their size aud powers of biting were such that they could work serious aud " often deadly injury upon mankind. Their feet, moving across the bare back of the prehistoric man. meant nothing to him during the earliest of earthly life, but soou this man learned that the slow, dragging, drag-ging, light movement upon his bare skin preceded a painful injury. He came to realize that the moving feet of an iusect would soon be followed by a bite. Consequently Conse-quently he learned rhat he must knock off the insect immediately after feeling it walking walk-ing on his bare skin. He developed a sort of reflex action whereby his hand scratched the place as quick as he felt a beetle or bug drawing itself across it. The instinct which he had. the feeling which he experienced expe-rienced came to be known as tickling. Killed by Tickling. Pr. Crile believes that these same dangerous dan-gerous insects were responsible for man's less of hair in his upward march. It is true that men of the stone age had naturally natu-rally longer hair than men of today. If the man of today would let his hair grow without cutting it would not become so long n did that of the unharbcred cave man. Long hair. Dr. Crile suggests, furnished an ;unhush for these dangerous insects and beetles. In the wild, unkempt and thick hair of the prehistoric man these forms of life could hide and work without interruption. interrup-tion. So man rid himsslf of hair In order to "facilitate his defense " Then, not needing need-ing the supply cf hair which he had had, he In succeeding generations began to lose it gradually. "The ticklish areas," says Dr. Crile. "are found in those parts of the body which are still most frequently attacked by wild beasts." The type of tickling sensation brought about by a sharp, quick blow is the sort that produces laughter. "It is." says Dr. Crile, "a heavy, penetrating pressure in the region of the ribs, the loins, the back of the neck and the soles of the feet. Reaction Reac-tion in this case is a violent discharge of energy in the form" of laughter, accompanied accom-panied by cries for mercy and frantic muscular mus-cular efforts to be free. In the middle ages victims were often killed by prolonged tickling." tick-ling." This frantic struggle to be free and this violent discharge of energy in the form of laughter are perhaps remnants of the ancient man's frenzy at finding himself caught by a w-ild beast. Man today knows when being tickled that there is only the nil MMl - frj I Dr. Crile's theory is that we are tickiish today because our stone age ancestors an-cestors learned to associate the slow crawl of a bug across their bare skin with serious and often fata! bites. motive of play behind rhc action and that his persecutor is inspi red by f;i miliaria y :iiid uot by tbirst for b!oud. but, according V1 this theory, be niimot help but rer.vE as did his ancestor in the dim pat when the pan-Ukt pan-Ukt sprain: upou the h;i;r"-nakeI i-ave ir.au. The wilclness of eye. the uncontrollable bursts of lauizhter and moans which a man will utter white being violently tickled cau scarcely be distinguished from the symptoms of real fear and despair at times. The nerve centers were trained long ago to warn the body of danger when violence of this uort was visited upon them, aud they still do their wjrk. nlthjush the saber tooth Uyer has become the rough house masculine friend. It is a familiar sight to behold a ticklish individual grow utterly exhausted at being tickled spiritedly. He becomes often too weak to stand. In the middle ages, when rival political parties wracked their brains to devise some new torture by which to kill their enemies, some highly intellectual demon thought of tickling. Previous to that they bad used every kind of pain-making pain-making instrument in the world. They had thumbscrews, slow fires and machines that slowly pulled a recumbent person's7 body apart. They drove steel wedges between be-tween the knee cap and the knee, they hung people by their thumbs, they branded white flesh with red-hot irons, they roped a man by one foot and let him swing head down over a precipice unti) the blood rush-ii.g rush-ii.g into his head killed him. I.'eath by tickling rivaled in artfulness any of these. The prisoner was stripied and fastened arm and foot upon a platform. Then the executioners besan tickling ribs and feet. .Soon the pinioned man was howl-in. howl-in. heaving and straining aL the bonds; a little later he was exhausted, pud in time 3 ';,, v Callers in a home take great delight in tickling jj the baby, in chucking him under the chin or in the ; i ribs so that he wiil scream with laughter. They 7 1 do not realize that they may be sowing the seeds 1 f future hysteria in the child's plastic nerve cen- 1 ters. "We can do no more cruel thing," declares , Dr. Anna Dwyer, "than to tickle young children. That we do it in ignorance does not excuse ex-cuse the act." Most Cruel oP vT": v ! maoor &pom v. ; ';., v Callers in a home take great delight in tickling -y s ', V 'V ' the baby, in chucking him under the chin or in the XvS j v"' "Cstj) ' ribs so that he wiil scream with laughter. They ' " " -f S 1 do not realize that they may be sowing the seeds VSJ1 ' i - ' of future hysteria in the child's plastic nerve cen- v V". y j I ters can no more cruel thing," declares sJ"' ; i Dr. Anna Dwyer, "than to tickle young children. " V i That we do it - i trv:.- i t4 m in ignorance ...;. -v-cv,, !,sj-:s A; ; ' ; jgfi9'"" '!'"i"N. does not ex- f-"---. - - . ;. A;-..-o-w--:??sz t-- " -A i cusetheact." , ' J H v - vi fe'.'w: xr ' .) mmmmmmm "XSSXXXW v unger he was dead. M:jjy:MipM) upon How many '''' A'AAAaA. all very well for parents to romp mind, and the savage, oever having come uuRh people know that 'Siv": and play with their children moder- into conllict with a solely man-made world ough- the modern :; 'X.A .-i ately. but when the child becomes Hl;e that In a great city, does not know slang expres- 'Jtj&.ii;;'' i exhausted in sueh exercise, when it what nerves are. His experiences are im- rklish gion, "Tickled to 'Si M --sf becomes worked up a pitch of ex- measurably less varied. He is not ticklish, being death," came MI3lf?ifeM ' citement that passes former bounds, Occasionally we find a civilized person who n too from actual PsS::tfS the time has come to curtail play. is not ticklish, fie somehow has preserved when cases of such a Babies demand quiet, peace and the even keeled feelings of the wild peoples, trains form of demise? VV natural development. Anything that He is phlegmatic, unruflled. always calm. :o kill This phrase, ., , plays upon Hieir senses is danger- It may be said at this point that the ;ctual meant to illus- ' ""' ous, and tickling carries with it a savage has fiercer hates and passions than us to trate in exaggerated lorm the superlative rather serious sensual menace. Just as ob- the intensely civilized human being and pain- appreciation of humor, lies sometimes jectionable pictures tend to fix themselves that he is consequently nervous. But this They perilously close to the truth. in tlle mind of the impressionable, adoles- statement of his proneness to great passion Raines ' cent child and to permanently influence his does not necessitate his being nervous. all very well for parents to romp and play with their children moderately, moder-ately, but when the child becomes exhausted in sueh exercise, when it becomes worked up a pitch of excitement ex-citement that passes former bounds, the time has come to curtail play. Babies demand quiet, peace and natural development. Anything that plays upon their senses is dangerous, danger-ous, and tickling carries with it a rather serious sensual menace. Just as objectionable ob-jectionable pictures tend to fix themselves in the mind of the impressionable, adolescent adoles-cent child and to permanently influence his character, so tickling overexcites the senses of a baby and prepares it for tuture lack of stability. Nervous by Civilization. If we were all savages liviug in caves and forests we should be infinitely less ticklish as a race. Civilization makes us nervous. In the struggle for existence we train ourselves to flue distinctions, to intense in-tense schemes, to high conceutrative powers. pow-ers. ' This means the cultivation of nerves. The savage lives on more natural things. He has little to worry about beside food and clothing, which- 'ie gets from the face of nature with his own hands. Continual association with the never-changing ways of Mother Nature calms and steadies the mind, and the savage, never having come into conllict with a solely man-made world like that in a great city, does not know what nerves are. His experiences are immeasurably im-measurably less varied. He is not ticklish. Occasionally we find a civilized person who is not ticklish. lie somehow has preserved' the even keeled feelings of the wild peoples. He is phlegmatic, unruffled, always calm. It may be said at this point that the savage has fiercer hates and passions than the intensely civilized human being and that he is consequently nervous. But this statement of his proneness to great passion does not necessitate his being nervous. Quite to the contrary, he works off his hates and lusts in a prompt, natural way. He hates an enemy and consequently kills him or dies in the attempt. The matter is closed. Physical action quickly satisfies his desires. But civilization permits no such action. The college professor today, keenly attuned to learning, to tradition, to the law, cannot go out aud cut off the head of his rival teacher who slanders him. Modern rules insist that we suppress our hates and desires. This is what produces the nerves which we of civilization have. Tickling adds to this inherited nervousness nervous-ness and all too often makes hysterics. So leave the baby to grow up as he will without with-out constant handling pud fondling! Copyright. 1916, by J. Kceley.i |