the same function of leading to the intake of food, and they usually appear together. Indeed the cooperation of hunger and appetite is prohably the reason for their being so frequently confused.
The Sensation of Hunger
In the present paper we shall deal only with hunger. The sensation may be described as having a central core and certain more or less variable accessories. The peculiar dull ache of hungriness, referred to the epigastrium, is usually the organism's first strong demand for food; and when the initial order is not obeyed, the sensation is likely to grow into a highly uncomfortable pang or gnawing, less definitely localized as it becomes more intense. This may be regarded as the essential feature of hunger. Besides the dull ache, however, lassitude and drowsiness may appear, or faintness, or violent headache, or irritability and restlessness such that continuous effort in ordinary affairs becomes increasingly difficult. That these states differ much with individuals—headache in one, and faintness in another, for example—indicates that they do not constitute the central fact of hunger, but are more or less inconstant accompaniments, and need not for the present engage our attention. The "feeling of emptiness," which has been mentioned as an important element of the experience,[1] is an inference rather than a distinct datum of consciousness, and can likewise be eliminated from further consideration. The dull pressing sensation is left, therefore, as the constant characteristic, the central fact, to be examined in detail.
Hunger can evidently be regarded from the psychological point of view, and discussed solely on the basis of introspection; or it can be studied with reference to its antecedents and to the physiological conditions which accompany it—a consideration which requires the use of both objective methods and subjective observation. This psychophysiological treatment of the subject will be deferred till the last. Certain theories which have been advanced with regard to hunger and which have been given more or less credit must first be examined.
Two main theories have been advocated. The first is supported by evidence that hunger is a general sensation, arising at no special region of the body, but having a local reference. This theory has been more widely credited by physiologists and psychologists than the other. The other is supported by evidence that hunger has a local source and therefore a local reference. In the course of our examination of these views we shall have opportunity to consider some pertinent new observations.
- ↑ See Hertz, "The Sensibility of the Alimentary Canal," London, 1911, p. 38.
