862 



TASTE. 



guish by the taste, whether the birds on which 

 he is dining are domesticated or wild, male or 

 female, or to give an exact determination of 

 the spices, &c., that are combined in a parti- 

 cular sauce. 



On the other hand, the power of distin- 

 guishing sapors is for a time suspended, when 

 several substances of very decided but dif- 

 ferent tastes are taken into the mouth in 

 quick succession : thus, if sweet, sour, salt, or 

 bitter substances be applied to the tongue, or 

 if different kinds of wine be taken, one after 

 another, the sense is so much blunted after a 

 short time, as to impair or destroy the power 

 of discrimination between them until after an 

 interval of rest. So, again, when two sub- 

 stances of very different flavours are mingled 

 together, the stronger will frequently mask 

 the presence of the weaker : thus we often 

 find it advantageous, in prescribing nauseous 

 medicines, to combine with them aromatics, 

 whose stronger impression shall take posses- 

 sion (so to speak) of the sense for a time ; 

 and the object may be still more completely 

 attained by giving the aromatic a moment or 

 two previously, instead of simultaneously 

 with the disagreeable substance. 



The influence of habit in blunting the sen- 

 sibility to particular tastes, is as remarkable 

 as it is in the case of other sensations. Still 

 more extraordinary, however, is the degree in 

 which the taste may be educated to approve 

 savours which are in the first instance most 

 disgusting. "Thus," says Dr. Dunglison*, 

 " the Roman liquamcn or garum, the most 

 celebrated sauce of antiquity, was prepared 

 from the half-putrid intestines of fish : and 

 one of the varieties of the OTTOS 0i\<piov, or 

 laserpitium, is supposed to have been the 

 assafcetida. Even at this time, certain of 

 the Orientals are fond of the flavour of this 

 nauseous substance. Putrid meat is the de- 

 light of some nations ; and a rotten egg, es- 

 pecially if accompanied with the chick, is 

 highly esteemed by the Siamese. In civilised 

 countries, we find game, in a putrescent state, 

 eaten as a luxury ; this, to those unaccus- 

 tomed to it, requires a true education. The 

 same may be said of the pickled olive, and of 

 several cheeses ; the fromage de Gruyere, for 

 example, so much esteemed by the inhabitants 

 of continental Europe." Very extraordinary 

 appetencies for particular flavours are some- 

 times morbidly developed ; as in the case of 

 chlorotic girls, pregnant women, and insane 

 patients. The latter will sometimes even 

 devour their own excrement. 



Independently of the changes produced by 

 the education of the taste, we find great al- 

 terations in the likes and dislikes connected 

 with it, taking place in accordance with the 

 development of the body, or with other 

 changes in its physiological conditions. Thus 

 to the infant there is obviously nothing so 

 agreeable as milk ; in more advanced child- 

 hood there is almost invariably a fondness for 

 sweets ; whilst after adult age this is usually 

 in a great degree superseded by a preference 

 * Human Physiology, vol. i. p. 116. 



happens t 



articles of diet which were peculiarly agree- 

 able to us in childhood, become positively 

 disgusting to us in later life ; whilst, on the 

 contrary, many things to which we feel a 

 strong distaste in childhood, are relished when 

 we come to be men, and this by a sponta- 

 neous change in our own appetencies. We 

 fully believe with Wagner that these altera- 

 tions are in some way connected with the 

 physical condition of the nutritive functions ; 

 for we have other examples in which this 

 connexion is very evident. Thus, we may 

 continually remark that articles of food for 

 which we have the keenest relish when we 

 commence a meal with a good appetite, be- 

 come positively distasteful when we have al- 

 ready satisfied it. Again, we have known per- 

 sons who have a positive repugnance to fatty or 

 oleaginous matters of almost any description, 

 so long as they reside in temperate climates, 

 but who eat them with avidity when exposed 

 to the severe cold of the arctic winter. And 

 even in our own country we may frequently 

 remark that the taste for such articles varies 

 with the temperature ; a cup of sweet olea- 

 ginous cocoa, which would be almost loathed 

 on a hot summer day, being very palatable on 

 a cold winter night ; whilst ascescent drinks, 

 such as would be greatly relished in the 

 former season, are altogether discarded in the 

 latter, except when a heated atmosphere 

 brings back the physical condition of the 

 system which renders them palatable. 



So, again, we often observe in illness that 

 an alteration in the physical conditions of the 

 system so far affects the sense of taste, as to 

 produce a great alteration in the usual appe- 

 tencies. These alterations may probably be 

 due in some instances to the depravation of 

 the buccal secretions, so that the gustative 

 papillae are constantly surrounded with a sub- 

 stance possessing a certain taste of its own, 

 which of course affects their impressibility by 

 other savours. But there can be little doubt 

 that they are more commonly occasioned by 

 alterations in the condition of the gustative 

 apparatus itself, which becomes the exponent 

 (so to speak) of the wants of the system, and 

 which may be trusted, to a very considerable 

 extent, as indicating what is really most de- 

 sirable for it. Thus Dr. Holland remarks * : 

 " In the majority of instances of actual 

 illness, provided the real feelings of the pa- 

 tient can be safely ascertained, his desires as 

 to food and drink may be safely complied 

 with. But undoubtedly much care is need- 

 ful that we be not deceived as to the state 

 of the appetites by what is merely habit or 

 wrong impression on the part of the patient, 

 or the effect of the solicitation of others. This 

 class of sensations is more nurtured out of 

 the course of nature than are those which 

 relate to the temperature of the body. The 

 mind becomes much more deeply engaged 

 with them ; and though in acute illness they 

 are generally submitted again lo the natural 

 law, there are many lesser cases where 

 * Medical Notes and Reflections, p. 85. 



