244 Observations and Experiments on the Sense of Taste. 



other senses. It is also often observed, and I have always found 

 it so myself, that there is a likeness between the smell of a thing 

 and the taste of the same, or of another thing, and, vice versa, 

 which there is not between the appearance and sound of a 

 thing, the sound and feel, the smell and colour, &c. And 

 this sort of likeness is also quite of a different nature from 

 that which we speak of as existing between the appearance of 

 a four-cornered figure to the eye and the feel of the same fi- 

 gure ; to perceptions which resemble one another in convey- 

 ing, though by different senses, the idea of the number four. 

 And it is still more distinct from that association, produced 

 by experience, which we mean to denote when we say " such 

 a thing looks like a soft thing," — " such a person looks like a 

 good-humoured person, r> — "such a thing sounds like a solid, 11 — 

 or, " like a broken thing," — by which we mean, not that there 

 is any likeness between the perceptions in themselves, for in- 

 stance, between a certain noise and the appearance or feel of 

 a crack in a glass, &c. but that the noise is like another noise 

 which we had before found to be usually or always connect- 

 ed with the appearance or feel of a crack in a glass. The like- 

 ness between the perceptions of smell and taste, on the con- 

 trary, seems to every body, I believe, to be that of perfect 

 identity, as to the perception itself, and distinguishable, if it 

 is distinguishable, only by being perceived by a different or- 

 gan, and under different circumstances, in the one case, from 

 what it is in the other. I have also often found, that when 

 I have been surrounded by a very strong odour in the air, 

 and have had, at the same time, my mouth open, I have seem- 

 ed to taste as well as to smell it ; and I have been sometimes 

 led to think, from this circumstance, that tastes in the mouth 

 might be seasoned, as it were, by the smell of something 

 placed near us while eating, just as they are by sauces which 

 we taste in the ordinary way, though in a less degree proba- 

 bly. It is also worthy of remark, that those who treat of the 

 senses find no difficulty, in the case of the others, in pointing 

 out what are the proper organs of each ; but when they come 

 to the taste, they seem puzzled, and often differ from one 

 another : Sometimes the tongue, sometimes the palate, are 





