KAHLENUERO — ACTION OF SOLUTIONS ON TASTE. 27 



solution. The fact that solutions of sodium acetate, of sodium 

 oxalate and sodium tartrate have no pronounced taste is evi- 

 dence that the anions of these acids have but a slight effect, if 

 any, on the end organs of taste. 



The alcohols having but one hydroxyl-group, possess taste and 

 also a very strong odor. As it is extremely difficult to exclude 

 the smell of these substances while tasting them, nothing was 

 done with them experimentally. 



Great interest attaches to the polyatomic alcohols. Of th< 

 ethylene-glycol having two hydroxyl groups and glycerine with 

 three hydroxyl groups have a sweet taste that can readily be 

 detected in strong solutions. Erythrite with four hydroxyl 

 groups and mannite with six are practically tasteless; only in 

 very strong solutions were these substances found to be sweet. 

 The taste of a sample of dulcite was pronounced to be nil even 

 in the strongest solutions, while isodulcite and sorbite were found 

 to be slightly sweet. 



Turning now to the sugars, arabinose, laevulose, d-glucose 

 and galactose were reported to be sweet, as were also maltose 

 (malt sugar) and saccharose (cane sugar), while lactose (milk 

 sugar) and xylose were found to have little or no taste. The 

 The aldehyde groups occurring in sugars, seem to render them 

 more capable of permeating membranes, and probably they also 

 modify the compounds so that in their action on the nerve they 

 increase the sweetish taste, which on the whole is characteristic 

 of the alcohols containing several hydroxyl groups. The inten- 

 sity of the tastes of the polyatomic alcohols and the sugars is 

 then in general such as one would expect viewing the matter in 

 the light of Overton's work. 



The Taste of the Alkaloid*. 



Overton found that coniine, nicotine, sparteine, etc., very 

 readily pass through protoplasm; of the alkaloids that contain 

 oxygen, codeine, thebaine, cocaine, atropine, strychnine and 

 brucine diffuse very rapidly, whereas morphine diffuses more 

 slowly and ecgonine very slowly. The burning taste and the 



