Observations and Experiments on the Sense of Taste. 245 



stated to be the seat of it ; sometimes both, or both with the 

 addition of the lips. This difficulty of ascertaining precisely 

 the seat of this sense seems very remarkable in the case of 

 a sense which, as we commonly suppose, operates in actual 

 contact ; unlike the sense of sight, &c. which acts at a distance. 

 Besides, though we commonly consider the sense of tasting as 

 one exercised by some part of the mouth, and as capable of 

 being exercised only on a substance immediately in contact 

 with the oigan of tasting; and, on the other hand, consider 

 that of smelling as exercised by the nose, and on a substance 

 at a distance ; or rather, to speak more accurately, on air, and 

 particles contained in that air, though not discernible by any 

 of the other senses, and brought by that air into contact with 

 the organ of smelling; yet when, after eating, air returns 

 from the stomach, we seem to taste the t.iste of the thing 

 which had been eaten, (of onions, for instance, or turnips,) as 

 completely as we can be said to taste any thing ; and people 

 sometimes describe this as an operation of tasting, or, " hav- 

 ing the taste remain ;" yet it is air only that is presented to 

 the organ in this case. Some things of strong scent, perhaps, 

 are tasted after having been swallowed, even independently of 

 this, merely by their adhesion to the upper and unclosed part 

 of the gullet, as onions. 



These facts, though I had noticed them, I had never put 

 together, or much considered, when I found it observed in an 

 article in the Edinburgh Review, in 1821, I think, that there 

 are some things which we smell, while we are tasting or eat- 

 ing them, by means of the internal aperture which leads 

 from the back of the mouth into the nose, and through which 

 also we breathe when our mouth is shut; and that this inter- 

 nal smell constitutes what we mean by the term flavour, when 

 we use it as opposed to taste ; which latter term, in this writ- 

 er's opinion, relates only to a perception which is confined to 

 the mouth. 



It appeared to me that the author of that article was so far 

 right, but should have gone farther; and that not only the 

 quality called by him flavour is a quality perceived by the 

 smell only, but that there is not even any such distinction at 



