SENSE OF TASTE. 233 



are, also, certain articles which have a repulsive odor, the 

 taste of which is not disagreeable, such as some varieties of 

 old cheese. As a rule, however, articles agreeable to the 

 taste possess an agreeable odor, and the senses of taste and 

 smell are not easily separated from each other. These facts 

 have Jed to a distinction, which cannot, however, be always 

 made with accuracy, between true tastes and flavors. It is 

 assumed, by some physiologists, that the true tastes are quite 

 simple, presenting the qualities which we recognize as sweet, 

 acid, saline, and bitter; while the more delicate shades of 

 what are called flavors nearly always involve olfactory im- 

 pressions, w r hich it is difficult to separate entirely from gusta- 

 tion. We have already incidentally alluded to this point in 

 treating of olfaction, and have cited cases of loss of the sense 

 of smell with no impairment of what we have just described 

 as true taste, but a loss of power of appreciating flavors. 1 



If we apply the term savor exclusively to the quality 

 which makes an impression upon the sense of taste, we rec- 

 ognize that the sensation is special in its character, and dif 

 f erent from the tactile sensibility of the parts involved and 

 from the sensation of temperature. The terminal filaments 

 of the gustatory nerves are impressed by the actual contact 

 of savory substances, which must, of necessity, be soluble. 

 To a certain extent, there is a natural classification of savors, 

 some of which are agreeable, and others disagreeable ; but 

 even this distinction is modified by habit, education, and va- 

 rious other circumstances. Articles that are unpleasant in 

 early life often become agreeable in later years. Inasmuch as 

 the taste is, to some extent, an expression of the nutritive 

 demands of the system, it is found to vary, under different 

 conditions. Chlorotic females, for example, frequently crave 

 the most unnatural articles, and these morbid tastes may dis- 

 appear under appropriate treatment. Inhabitants of the 

 frigid zones seem to crave fatty articles, and will even drink 

 rancid oils with avidity. Patients often become accustomed 



1 See page 35. 



