Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1917 — Why We Are Ticklish. [ARTICLE]

Why We Are Ticklish.

Our strange ticklishness, curiously confined to special parts of the body, receives attention in a new book by Dr. George W. Crile and is pronounced a protective reaction which had its origin in the experiences of our progenitors while themselves still in the stage of fighting with teeth and claws. Qne type of tickle reflex is excited by a light running movement. This gives the sensation of a cnawling insect, with an irresistible impulse to rub the spot, affected and is believed to have developed when insects were a great peril —■ perhaps at the time of man’s gradual loss of hair. The second kind of tickle reflex is elicited by a certain heavy pressure about the ribs, the loins, the base of the neck and the soles of that feet. The pressure is like the penetrating contact of a toothlike body and the reaction is an explosion of energy - as laughter, with cries for mercy and vigorous resistance. The ticklish areas are points which formerly must have been especially exposed to attack by toothed and clawed beasts.