[9] Brown: The Dervishes, London, 1868, pp. 218–222, 260.
[10] Majer: Geschichte der Ordalien, Jena, 1796, pp. 258–261.
[11] Lea: Superstition and Force, Philadelphia, 1892, p. 178.
[12] Narodny: Musical America, 1914, xx, No. 14.
[13] Hall: American Journal of Psychology, 1914, xxv, p. 154.
CHAPTER XIII
THE NATURE OF HUNGER
On the same plane with pain and the dominant emotions of fear and anger, as agencies which determine the action of organisms, is the sensation of hunger. It is a sensation so peremptory, so disagreeable, so tormenting, that men have committed crimes in order to assuage it. It has led to cannibalism, even among the civilized. It has resulted in suicide. And it has defeated armies—for the aggressive spirit becomes detached from larger loyalties and turns personal and selfish as hunger pangs increase in vigor and insistence.
In 1905, while observing in myself the rhythmic sounds produced by the activities of the alimentary tract, I had occasion to note that the sensation of hunger was not constant but recurrent, and that the moment of its disappearance was often associated with a rather loud gurgling sound as heard through the stethoscope. This and other evidence, indicative of a source of the hunger sensations in the contractions of the digestive canal, I reported in 1911.[1] That same year, with the help of one of my students, A. L. Washburn, I obtained final proof for this inference.