Your wonderful body

[Nik]

I recently read about a phenomonon called Arnold's ear-cough reflex, where upon physical stimulation of the branches of the vagus nerve in the ear, a reflex stimulation of cough is produced in certain susceptible people. Another variant of this is vomiting caused by reflex stimulation of the vagal branches in the stomach.
Anglo-saxons who enjoyed feasting are apparently said to have poured cold water into their ears to induce vomiting when they had eaten their full, so that they could carry on their indulgences. The Romans were said to have achieved the same result by tickling the ear canal with a feather.
A more curious neural reflex can be seen by scratching the inner skin of a man's thigh, which will result (so I'm told) in the raising of the testicle within the scrotum on that side (if any bloke wants to test this out then feel free to do so privately to avoid any unnecessary public embarassment). This information is clinically important in determining the integrity of neural pathways. It can also be used to liven up boring parties.

[johnep]

Ok, when I am about to sneeze, I feel a prickling sensation at tip of my tongue, is this an example? Fagin said his palms started to itch when he thought about money.
johnep

[Nik]

Haven't come across that - although one supposed way to stop a sneeze is to tickle the roof of the mouth with the tip of your tongue for a few seconds until the urge disappears.