SENSE OF TASTE. 173 



of leaving the table once or twice during a meal, and after 

 having, by means of an emetic, unloaded the stomach, of re- 

 turning again to the charge. 



11. As a general rule, articles that are agreeable to the 

 taste, are safe and nutritious, though this is not invariably 

 the case. For example, prussic acid has a very agreeable 

 savour, as well as odour, and is accordingly used to impart fla- 

 vour to dishes and liqueurs, such as noyeau, yet prussic acid 

 is one of the most powerful poisons in nature. Many sub- 

 stances which at first are highly agreeable, in a short time 

 lose their relish ; we see that grocers understand this prin- 

 ciple, for instead of forbidding a new apprentice from eating 

 sugar, raisins, honey, and molasses, he tells him to eat all he 

 wants, knowing, that in a short time, his appetite will be 

 cloyed, and all temptation removed. 



12. /Among animals, we find a great difference in the per- 

 fection of this sense; iSome enjoy it, doubtless, in as great, 

 if not a greater degree than man, as they are able by it to 

 distinguish plants that are nutritive and good for food, from 

 those which are poisonous; and accordingly it is a rare 

 thing for animals to die from eating such vegetables. Many 

 insects feed on the leaves of poisonous plants, and seme ani- 

 mals eat the leaves of the poison ivy without injury. There 

 is an insect which feeds on the leaves of the tobacco, and the 

 southern planter guards against its ravages by a process 

 called worming. The taste also in animals sometimes be- 

 comes morbid, as we see it happen among our own race. 

 Mr. Bennet, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales" 

 states, that serious losses happened to the farmers in that 

 country from the sheep acquiring the habit of licking and 

 devouring earth impregnated with saline matter. In a short 

 time, he says, their natural innocent dispositions become 

 changed, and they become carniverous and savage, and de- 

 vour the lambs. Thus out of a flock of twelve hundred 

 lambs, eight hundred were devoured by the sheep themselves. 



13. The sense of taste is most delicate in youth. It is 

 15* 



