234 SPECIAL SENSES. 



to the most disagreeable remedies and take them without re- 

 pugnance. Again, the most savory dishes may even excite 

 disgust, when the sense of taste has become cloyed, while ab- 

 stinence sometimes lends a delicious flavor to the simplest 

 articles of food. The taste for certain articles is certainly 

 acquired, and this is almost always true of tobacco, now so 

 largely used in civilized countries. 



Any thing more than the simplest classification of savors 

 is difficult, if not impossible. We recognize that certain 

 articles are bitter or sweet, empyreumatic or insipid, acid or 

 alkaline, etc., but, beyond these simple distinctions, the shades 

 of distinction are closely connected with olfaction and are too 

 delicate and numerous for detailed description. Many per- 

 sons are comparatively insensible to nice distinctions of taste, 

 while others recognize with facility the most delicate differ- 

 ences. Strong impressions may remove, for a time, the ap- 

 preciation of less powerful and decided flavors. The tempt- 

 ing of the appetite by a proper gradation of gustatory and 

 odorous impressions is illustrated in the modern cuisine, 

 which aims at an artistic combination and succession of dishes 

 and wines, so that the agreeable sensations are prolonged to 

 the utmost limit. This may often be regarded as a violation 

 of strictly hygienic principles, but it none the less exempli- 

 fies the cultivation of the sense of taste. 



In discussing the physiology of taste, we shall avoid an 

 elaborate and artificial classification of savory articles, and 

 use the terms sweet, acid, bitter, etc., as they are commonly 

 understood. We shall first describe the physiological anat- 

 omy and properties of the gustatory nerves, and then con- 

 sider the mechanism of gustation, the special organs of taste, 

 and the probable mode of connection between the organs of 

 taste and the nerves. 



Nerves of Taste. Two nerves, the chorda tympani and 

 the glosso-pharyngeal, preside over the sense of taste. These 

 nerves seem to be distributed to distinct portions of the gus- 



