Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-12-25
KISSING.

To kiss is "to smack with the pursed |
lips, compression of the closed cavity of |
the mouth by the cheeks giving slight |
sound when the rounded contact of the lips |
with one another is broken" Thus say
the wise men of the dictionary, who, per-
baps, could not be expected to give them |
selves away by making their description of |
kissing warmer and more vivid.
Smacking with the pursed lips, ETC., has
become a very popular pastime with many,
and there are no signs that It's popularity |
ia soon to suffer diminution. 1t has, how
ever, been savsgely attacked, just as bicy-
Gle riding and other smusements have
been. During the last few years the doc
tors have done what they could to discour-
age kissing. They have shouted that in
Vulnerable bacteria lurk on even the pref
TEST and most kissable lips, and that con-
sumption, diphtheria ard many other
diseases are spread by kissing. We have
often wondered that they have not included
insanity in their list of things communisa-
BILE by kissing, for If there is any thing that
can clearly be traced to kissing 1t is insan-
ity of several kinds. We hereby call their
attention to this important omission from
their scare soreeds. A man or woman who
| is willing to take doctors advice about
kissing ought to have the whole story.
The medical profession has declared itself
against all kinds of kissing, the preachers
are against some kinds, and the law is also
against some kinds. 1t is, for instance,
pretty we'll established in most legal sys-
TENS that it is illegal to kiss a woman
against her will. The law of many coun-
tries recognizes the fact that kissing goes
by favor and that where there is no
favor there should be no compulsory kiss-
ing. Several cases involving this princi-
pie have come up in this country during
the past year, and the courts have in
variably upheld the right of woman to
choose her kisser, and men who have
taken shother view of the matter have
been fined or Imprisoned for their error of
judgment aud of action. ALL who have 30
suffered and who have in their hearts re-
belled against the coldness and the cruelty
that made an assault out of compliment
will be pleased and soothed by the de-
cision of the Court of Appeals of Holland
in the case of a young man who kissed an
unwilling girl in a street of Utrecht. The
judges dismissed the case, declaring thst
"to kiss person cannot be an offence, as
1t Is In the nature of warm mark of
sympathy"
The learned Dutch judges may be slow,
but they are sure. Their judgment will,
of course, stand in Holland, and we think
1t will soon be accepted and Endorsed In
other countries. A man who is of such q
benevolent and sympathetic nature that he
will defy bacteria and the other dangers
of kissing in order to show an Indifferent
or scornful woman that he feels for hel
shouldn't be punished for it. He is only
hesping Goals of fire on her head when he
kisses her against her will. And If she
isn't moved by his benevolencs and sym
patby she has her remedy without appeal
ing to the law. She can let him kiss hel
and get billions of bacteria by 80 doing o.
che can expose him to the other dangers o
kissing. The Dutch judges have don,
right. A man who kisses woman sgaine
her will may be an idiot, but not crimi
nal. How can there be anything crimins
in showing sympathy by smsekiRg with tn
pursed lips, while a compression of tn
cavity of the mouth by the cheeks gives
slight sound when the rounded contact O
the lips witk one another is brokenl