Philematology

Another strange word for an even stranger field of study, can you imagine being scientist of kissing? Some guys will  read this and nod their heads, liking the thought of doing 'research' on cute girls for science. “Kiss” is from the Old English cyssan from the proto-Germanic kussijanan or kuss/coss, which is probably based on the sound kissing can make. But kissing varies from era to place to culture. For example, In Greece and Rome, kissing was very common between parents kissed their children, lovers and martial partners kissed, and kissing was often a greeting. Kissing at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony can be traced to ancient Roman tradition where a kiss was used to sign contract. The Romans created three categories of kissing: Osculum, a kiss on the cheek, Basium, a kiss on the lips, and Savolium, a deep kiss. Other countries like India, kissing is strongly established. The Indian Karma Sutra lists over 30 types of kisses, such as “fighting of the tongue. In Africa and other 'uncivilized' countries, lovers and spouses never kissed one another. Japan, on the other hand, mothers often kissed their infants and that was mostly it. A medieval manuscript warns Japanese men against deep kissing during the female orgasm because a woman might accidentally bite off part of her lover’s tongue. Kissing to me, is rather normal, it's how I express my love for my boyfriend, my siblings, and friends. Now I was curious about the science of kissing. Lips are 100 times more sensitive than the tips of the fingers, which even genitals cannot even compete with. This surprises me because this implies that a person can have an orgasm from kissing! Approximately two-thirds of people tip their head to the right when they kiss, which I admit I do too. Plus, for all the health fitness freaks out there, passionate kissing burns 6.4 calories a minute. So I want to lose a couple pounds, I can just kiss passionately for a few hours. Also, kissing is apparently good for the teeth. The anticipation of a kiss, much like when you see some really delicious food, increases the flow of saliva to the mouth, giving the teeth a plaque-dispersing bath. However, the only let down from kissing is the  diseases and bacteria. For example, herpes can be transmitted through kissing and in one case, a women contracts HIV from a man, who had gum disease (blood in his mouth). The human mouth is full of bacteria. When two people kiss, they exchange between 10 million and 1 billion bacteria, which is more than most animal bites. I cringe at the thought of all that down side to a pleasant pastime.