Oil the Delicacy of the Sense of Taste 



Among Indians. 



BV E. H. S. BAILEV. 



(Read before the American Association of Science, at the Madison, Wis,, meeting, 189,3. i 



At the Philadelphia meeting of this association, the author, in 

 connection with E. L. Nichols, presented the results of some experi- 

 ments on the "Delicacy of the Special Senses, " and more recently 

 articles on this and related topics have been published in several 

 periodicals.* In all these series of tests the same general method, as 

 outlined below, has been followed. The object in each set of tests 

 has been to arrive at the average delicacy. On account of the wide 

 variation in the results of the experiments with different individuals, it 

 is possible to generalize only after a large number of tests have been 

 made. In any series of this kind, then, the results may be said to 

 point in a certain direction, rather than to warrant a definite state- 

 ment. 



A special opportunity for testing the Indian race was afforded on 

 account of the fact that at Haskell Institute, in Lawrence, Kansas, 

 there are congregated four or five hundred Indians, collected from the 

 northern and western part of the United States by the government for 

 educational purposes. They come, at the present time, from no less 

 than thirty-six diiferent tribes, and represent all degrees of civili- 

 zation. They are by no means all pure-blooded, for German, Irish, 

 French, English and Negro blood can be detected in their features 

 and the nationality can be recognized in their names. The pupils are 

 of various ages — from five to twenty-five — but the tests described 

 below were made with boys and girls from twelve to about twenty- one 

 years of age. 



The method of testing the delicacy of the sense of taste may be 

 briefly outlined as follows: Solutions of known strength, of the 

 substance to be tasted, were made. These solutions were then suc- 

 cessively diluted, each one being made of one-half the strength of the 

 preceding one in its class, till the solution was so dilute that it was not 



♦On the relative bitterness of different bitter substances. Kas. Acad, of Science, vol. X. 



On the relation between the taste and the acidity of certain acids. Kas. Acad. Science, 

 vol. XI. 



On the delicacy of the sense of taste. Science, vol, XI; also Nature, March, 1888. 



Note also article by E. E. Slosson on the sweetness of certain alcohols, Kas. Acad, of 

 Science, vol. XII. 



(95) KAN. UNn'. QUAR.. VOL, 11, NO, 2, OCT., 1893. 



