TASTE. 487 



will, and is carried by the reflex actions of the pharynx and oeso- 

 phagus downward to the stomach. 



The impressions of taste made upon the tongue remain for a cer- 

 tain time afterward. When a very sweet or very bitter substance 

 is taken into the mouth, we retain the taste of its sapid qualities 

 for several seconds after it has been ejected or swallowed. Conse- 

 quently, if several different savors be presented to the tongue in 

 rapid succession, we soon become unable to distinguish them, and 

 they produce only a confused impression, made up of the union of 

 various different sensations ; for the taste of the first, remaining in 

 the mouth, is mingled with that of the second, the taste of these 

 two with that of the third, and so on, until so many savors become 

 confounded together that we are no longer able to recognize either 

 of them. Thus it is notoriously impossible to recognize two or 

 three different kinds of wine with the eyes closed, if they be repeat- 

 edly tasted in quick succession. 



If the substance first tasted have a particularly marked savor, 

 its taste will preponderate over that of the others, and perhaps pre- 

 vent our recognizing them at all. This effect is still more readily 

 produced by substances which excite the general sensibility of the 

 tongue, such as acrid or stimulating powders. In the same manner 

 as a painful sensation, excited in the skin, prevents the nerves, for 

 the time, from perceiving delicate tactile impressions, so any pungent 

 or irritating substance, which excites unduly the general sensibility 

 of the tongue, blunts for a time its special sensibility of taste. This 

 effect is produced, however, in the greatest degree, by substances 

 which are at the same time sapid, pungent and aromatic, like sweet- 

 meats flavored with peppermint. Advantage is sometimes taken 

 of this in the administration of disagreeable medicines. By first 

 taking into the mouth some highly flavored and pungent substance, 

 nauseous drugs may be swallowed immediately afterward with but 

 little perception of their disagreeable qualities. 



A very singular fact, in connection with the sense of taste, is that 

 it is sometimes affected in a marked degree by paralysis of the facial 

 nerve. No less than six cases of this kind, occurring in the human 

 subject, have been collected by M. Bernard, and we have also met 

 with a similar instance in which the peculiar phenomena were well 

 marked. M. Bernard has furthermore seen a similar effect upon 

 the taste produced in animals by division of the facial nerve within 

 the cranium. The result of these experiments and observations is 

 as follows : When the facial nerve is divided or seriously injured 



