TAB 



palate ; which, with the niuple-hkc uvula, that hangs from 



:i when the mouth U 

 opened. I i hi- tongue, the mcmbrai, 



of that organ promi- 

 and i- ivinaikably developed into a vast 



i 1 led lu/iif/tr. which 



(he 1 -e of the tongu. . ;. plied 



uith i i -"id variously concerned in 



lie part. \TK.] 



V, viieriinents out have been 



-ur If 



KiO . from which the 

 . iiii: icsults arc obtained : A smiJl portion of the 



re the I>;LSC of the in ula. the r. 



part of the back of the tongue, where it corresponds to the 

 Isthmus of the palate, and the entire circumference of the 

 tongue, are MI endowed ; while the internal surface of the 



he gum, the remaining | 



the soft palate and of t! -titute. 



Thus, thos, parts ,,i th.' tongue with which, in sipping or 

 in masticating, the food would ha\e contact .its b. 

 and. most eminentl). its tip), are gustative : and the pro- 

 peif, though in a less degree, by the lingual and 



palatine surface's of the isthmus through which the food 

 enteis the sphere of involuntary act: 



The ner\e. specially endowed with the .sic. is 



a branch of the third part of the filth cerebral nerve, 

 from its function, gustatorv : but it seems possible ' 

 physiologists that the gloSBO-pharyngeal ner\e sha 1 

 property. Tin nerve is distributed to the papil- 



Mir'faee of the tongue, especially along its borders and 

 tip': the lingual part of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve is 

 restricted in its distribution to the posterior part of the 

 tongue, where it supplies the mucous surface exclu- 

 sively. 



Km the sensation of taste, moisture must be present ; all 



iamiliiir with a temporary impairment of the 

 under the influence of unusual dryness of the surface of its 

 organs; the parched tongue of fever is notoriously indiffer- 

 ent to all savours. Matters are only capable of being 

 I when they exist in a fluid form: an insoluble body 

 i- insipid : a solid body provokes an immediate How ot 

 saliva, and its sapid qualities are perceived in proportion 

 only as it dissolves: certain gases are alleged to excite s<-n- 

 sations of taste: but it is only by such as are soluble in the 

 suli\a sulphurous acid, for instance .and Only in proportion 

 as they are dissolved that these imp! produced. 



I'he sensation of taste undoubtedly admits of an im- 

 mense \ariety of modifications which no" language can ex- 

 . If a man were to examine live hundred different 

 wines, he would hardly find two of them that had precisely 

 the same taste : the same thing holds in cheese, and in 

 many other things. Yet of five hundred different tastes ii 

 cheese or wine, we can hardly describe twenty, so as to i;i\<. 

 a distinct notion of them to one who had not tasled them." 

 The vairue. or not-to-be-dcscrihed. nature' of giislatoiy 

 impres.sio expressed by Dr. Reid, receives sonh 



additional obscurity from the circumstance that taste am 

 smell are often simultaneous!) affected in a manner wind 

 renders it difficult to abstract cither. Various substance 

 after exciting the sense of touch on the fauces, and that o 

 ta.ste on the tongue, arc canaille of producing a third im 

 'ion. which is popularly referred to the palate, but i: 

 really felt upon the sentient membrane of the nostrils: tlu 

 fume of certain kinds of food ascends into the cavities o 

 the nose, and produces this third and distinct sensation: it 

 administering medicine to children, it is well known tha 

 the greater part of what is disagreeable in its flavour maj 

 he avoided b\ - when the draught i 



swallowed; and by repeating this experiment upon 1 

 articles of food, it is easy to ascertain how much of theii 

 flavour depends upon one sense, and how much is appre 

 elated by the other.' Mr. Mayo, from whom tin 

 (Traph IB quoted, goes on to classify the impressions pro 

 dueed \i\ taken into the fauces: 



1. Where sensations of tnurh alone lire produced, as b] 

 rock-crystal, sapphire, or ice. 



2. \Vhere, in addition to being felt upon the tongue, th 

 im . excites .\i-,iMiiinn in the nostrili, as for instance 



tin and other o talg. 



.'t V. . .],.. being felt upon the tongue, it produces 



e,, ..lit. 



4. \ is felt on the toiiL'iu and tlstec 



T A S 



>y it, ami in addition excites a teiue of flavour in the 

 rils, as, I'm manna, anil tit 



itlin<'* "j I'liifi"! 'A r v. p :U J. 

 inri.ur, then 1:1 distinction 1 

 new be attributed mil poneated a 



>r volatility; :iiul, b\ 8 <l t acting such, 



nul by contrasting their impression with tl. 1 by 



a simply sapid substance urn-tard and salt ran illn 

 In- two cases , it will be noticed that Ha. 

 xlour, which. 1'ioni its aH'ccting a comparatively unj 

 i-nl part of thr olfactory appaiatlls. Is at ; 

 and obscurely recognised. 



tin- chief relations of the sense of ta-1c in : 

 and in the animals which most nearly resemble In 

 structure. As the sense U a provision I'or the - 

 tile di may on sound ph\ 



grounds anticipa' under a more or lc-> 



(Lifted I'onn, in every aniina' 

 No nx 



eil ill the invc. 



Mime tn infer in them the p than 



a- an obscure sense determining their elm. turn 



of I'ooil : to till.-- extent it Undoubtedly exists m them, 

 to the bottom of the seale -to the infusory aninialcu]. 

 which Khrciiberg h:is witnessed its e> Liuoug the 



invcrtcbrala. inolhisks possess the most highh 

 alimentary organs, and it .seems probable that in then 

 guidin those organs II;LS a corresponding develop- 



ment. 



Through the subregnum of vertebrata it a- 

 advancing mat are me nt : in the lower el:'. 

 reptiles, the organs are present, but seem rather to b. 

 to the movements of prehension and of deglutition. 

 to the M ns t of taste : in birds too the oriruns are little 

 developed, and the sense seemingly imperfect: tin 

 the class of mammalia it is gradually augmented in acutc- 

 but although in certain orders of them, or in par- 

 ticular indi\iduals, the sense appears shar]) and the appe- 

 tite fastidious, it is probably in man alone that the organs 

 and their function are completely matured. 



TASTK. according to the definition of Sir Joshua Rey- 

 nolds, is that act of the mind by which we like or dislike, 

 whatever be the subject.' (Discourse! before tin- l}ny<il 

 Society; Discourse vii.) 



Taste i> freijuently spoken of as a gift, as something in- 

 dependent of rules, a kind of instinct, bestowed 

 hhcially in degree upon some men than upon others. It 

 has been treated by some writers as the result of capi : 

 fashion, as having no uniform or permanent, principl- 

 the ground of its decisions. Others ha\e resolved it into 

 different complex elements, whose joint dc\c 

 determined by certain principles of beauty or sublimity in 

 things external. 



Lord Bacon ha* been quoted >ning 



the idea of taste bcinir a kind of gill or instinct. ' > 

 cannot tell.' he says. whether Ajielles or Albert I 



thetriller: whereof one would maK. 



au'e of geometrical propmtions : the other bs taking the 

 best pans Out Of div< one excellent. The 



painter must do it by a Kind of fclicilx. am! not by rule.' 

 Sir .loslma Reynolds has overthrown ibis position in one 

 ice : ' I'.M'iy object which pleases must irive us plea- 

 sure upon some certain principles.' These prmcipli 

 uiH]iie.stionalily so intelligible that they may be embodied 

 in the form of words, and may be drawn out into 

 Hurke. towards the end of his essay ou Taste introdi 

 to the Sublime and licautifnlX has likewise adverted to 

 this position, which will come under notice again in the 

 course of this article. 



The hypothesis which refers our emotion of taste to tin- 

 influence of fashion, or temporary and varying <-., 



maintained in the I//<juiri/ intn thr I'rinciji 

 b\ Mr. I'ayne Kniirht. According to Mr. k 

 there is scarcely any subject upon which men differ 

 than concerning the objects of their pleasures and ainn-e- 

 nients : and this difference subsists not only among indi- 

 viduals, but among ages and nations ; nlnu rela- 

 tion accusing that which preceded it of bad tVtlln build- 

 ing, furniture, and (Ires*; and almost every nation having 

 its own peculiar modes and ideas of excellence in 

 matters, to which it perdu Ihcrcs, until one par- 

 ticular people ha ndcne\ in ]io\\, 

 reputation as to set what is called the fashion, when (hi* 



