CHAPTER XXIV 

 TASTE 



THE organ of taste is composed of taste goblets which are 

 goblet-shaped structures with an aperture towards the buccal 

 cavity and contains spindle-shaped cells (see Figs. 47 and 48). 

 The branches of the nerves supplying these structures end 



FIG. 47. CROSS-SECTION OF THE TASTE PAPILLA OF THE TONGUE, IN WHICH 

 LIE THE TASTE-BUDS. 



between these cells. Taste-goblets are found in the epithe- 

 lium of the circumvallate, foliate, and fungiformes papillae of 

 the tongue, as also in the soft palate and the posterior pillars 

 of the fauces. The nerve of taste is the glossopliaryngeal, 

 whose fibres reach the taste organs in part directly and in part 

 through the Jacobson's anastomose and lingual nerve (see 

 page 252). 



Adequate stimuli for the organs of taste are liquid and dis- 

 solved substances, or at least such as are soluble in saliva. 



The intensity of the taste sensation depends upon the 

 concentration of the solution. The liminal intensity is 

 different for the various tastable substances. The concen- 

 tration necessary for some substances is seen in the following 



table : 



298 



