CHAPTER IX
HUNGER VS. APPETITE
As we said at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, Hunger and Appetite are two entirely different attributes of the human body. Hunger is the normal demand for food—Appetite the abnormal craving. Hunger is like the rosy hue upon the cheek of the healthy child—Appetite is like the rouged face of the woman of fashion. And yet most people use the terms as if their meaning were identical. Let us see wherein lies the difference.
It is quite difficult to explain the respective sensations, or symptoms, of Hunger and Appetite, to the average person who has attained the age of maturity, for the majority of persons of that age have had their natural taste, or hunger-instinct, perverted by Appetite to such an extent that they have not experienced the sensation of genuine hunger for many years, and have forgotten just what it felt like. And it is hard to describe a sensation unless one can call up in the mind of his hearer the recollection of the same, or a similar sensation, experienced at some time in the past. We can describe a sound to the person of normal hearing by comparing it with something he has heard—but imagine the difficulty of conveying an intelligent idea of a sound to a man who was born "stone-deaf"; or of describing a colour to a man born blind; or of giving
