36 SPECIAL SENSES. 



acid, and bitter impressions. In four of the cases reported 

 by Notta, there was complete loss of the sense of smell, the 

 sense of taste remaining perfect. 1 In two of the cases re- 

 ported by Ogle, the same fact was observed. 3 In three of 

 the four cases, by Notta, the anosmia was due, in two, to 

 polypus, and in one to coryza. In one case it was traumatic, 

 and probably due to injury of the nerves. In one of the 

 cases reported by Ogle, the anosmia was due to double facial 

 paralysis, and in one, to coryza. 



It is undoubtedly true that we lose the delicacy of the 

 sense of taste when the sense of smell is abolished. The 

 experiment of tasting wines blindfolded and with the nos- 

 trils plugged, and the partial loss of taste during a severe 

 coryza, are sufficiently familiar illustrations of this fact. In 

 the great majority of cases, when there is complete anosmia, 

 the taste is sensibly impaired ; and in the cases just referred 

 to, in which this did not occur, it is probable that the savory 

 emanations passed from the mouth to the posterior portion 

 of the nasal fossae, and that here the mucous membrane was 

 not entirely insensible to special impressions. This explana- 

 tion would certainly answer for the case in which the anosmia 

 was due to facial palsy. 



JT / 



It is unnecessary, in this connection, to describe fully the 

 reflex phenomena which follow impressions made upon the 

 olfactory membrane. The odor of certain sapid substances, 

 under favorable conditions, will produce an abundant secre- 

 tion of saliva and even of gastric juice, as has been shown by 

 experiments upon animals. 3 Other examples of the effects of 

 odorous impressions of various kinds are sufficiently familiar. 



1 NOTTA, Archives generates, Paris, Avril, 1870. 



3 OGLE, Medico- Chirurgical Transactions, London, 1870. 



3 See vol. ii., Digestion, p. 228. 



