174 THE FHILOSOPHY 



Nature or in art, it is difficult to determine. The inquirj^, 

 however, v/ould not be incurious, whether men who have 

 an obtufe fenfe of tailing material fubftances are likewife 

 deficient in the perception of" beauty and deformity. 



Tliough the fenfe of tafte varies in fome individuals, yet, 

 like figurative tafte, the ftandard of agreeable and difagreea- 

 ble, of pleafant and painful, is almoft univerlally difFufed 

 over mankind and the brute creation. Every horfe, and 

 every ox, when in a natural ftate, eat and rejedl the fame 

 fpecies of food. But men in fociety, as well as domeflic ani- 

 mals, are induced by habit, by neceflity, or by imitation^ to 

 acquire a tafte for many diflies, and combinations of fub- 

 ftances, which, before the natural difcriminating fenfe is per- 

 verted, would be reje^led with difguft. 



Some individuals of the human fpecies have an averfton to 

 particular kinds of food, which are generally agreeable. 

 This averfton may be either original or acquired. I knew a 

 child, who, from the moment he was weaned, could never 

 be induced to take milk of any kind. Thefe original aver- 

 lions muft be afcribed to fome peculiar modification in the 

 ftru£lure of the organ, or in the difpofition of its nerves. 

 But, in general, difguft at particular foods is produced by 

 furfeits, which injure the ftom.ach, and create, in that exqui- 

 fitely irritable vifcus, an infuperable antipathy to receive 

 nourifliment which formerly gave it fo much uneaftnefs to 

 digged. 



Brute animals, efpecially thcfe which feed upon herbage, 

 and are not liable to be corrupted by example or neceflity, 

 diftinguifti taftes with wonderful accuracy. By the applica- 

 tion of the tongue, they inftantly perceive whether any 

 plant is falutary or noxious. To enable them, amidft a 

 thoufand plants, to make this difqrimination, their nervous 

 papillae, and their tongues, are proportionally much larger 

 fihan thofe of man. 



