SEAT OF TASTE. 213 



placed in more immediate contact with the surface of the 

 tongue. . To further insure this contact, the tongue applies 

 itself to the palatine arch, and presses the food against its 

 surface. It is then that the gustatory impression is produced 

 in its full force, and from this it has been inferred that the 

 palate is the principal seat of taste. The action of the 

 palate, however, is purely mechanical, and is limited, as we 

 have stated, to securing immediate contact between the 

 savoury bodies and the tongue. This is demonstrated by 

 covering the palatine arch with a thin pellicle which is itself 

 insipid and impermeable; the taste is just as acute under 

 - these conditions, but if the tongue is covered with this same 

 pellicle, and the palate uncovered, no taste is perceived. 

 The cheeks and lips also contribute to taste by carrying the 

 particles of food which may have fallen outside the dental 

 arch during mastication back to the tongue. Taste acts not 

 less delicately in deglutition, when the contents of the mouth 

 descend between the base of the tongue and the soft palate 

 on its way through the throat. Food and drink must re- 

 main for a certain time in the mouth in order that their full 

 flavour may be perceived ; thus the gourmand takes care to 

 retain them, and exhaust, as it were, their aromas, before send- 

 ing them to the stomach. For this reason, also, wine-tasters 

 hold the wine in their mouth when they wish to judge of its 

 quality, but they avoid swallowing this mouthful of wine 

 after it is thus robbed of its bouquet; they reject it after 

 thoroughly moistening the surface of the tongue, and they 

 can then decide as to the vineyard and the year of the 

 vintage. If they drank the wine which they taste, the smell, 

 which here plays the principal part, would very soon become 

 dulled. 



The papillae of the tongue, it is generally considered, are 

 endowed with gustatory sensibility, and this sensibility is 

 principally attributed to the fungiform papillae. According 

 to M. Longet they are rather tactile organs, and the learned 

 physiologist supports his opinion by the fact that, on the 

 point of the tongue the taste is no less perfect where the 

 parts are destitute of papillae, while the feeling there is much 

 less delicate than on the papillae themselves. 



