It may be remarked here that while the eating of excrement (apart from its former use as a magic charm and as a therapeutic agent) is in civilization now confined to sexual perverts and the insane, among some animals it is normal as a measure of hygiene in relation to their young. Thus, as, e.g., the Rev. Arthur East writes, the mistle thrush swallows the droppings of its young. (Knowledge, June 1, 1899, p. 133.) In the dog I have observed that the bitch licks her puppies shortly after birth as they urinate, absorbing the fluid.
See, e.g., the previous volume of these Studies, "Sexual Selection in Man," pp. 165 et seq., and Dühren, Geschlechtsleben in England, bd. ii, pp. 258, et seq.
In the study of Love and Pain in a previous volume (p. 130) I have quoted the remarks of a lady who refers to the analogy between sexual tension and vesical tension—"Cette volupté que ressentent les bords de la mer, d'être toujours pleins sans jamais déborder"—and its erotic significance.