Taste. 483 



dog they are ~^ Q of a millimeter in length and ^ in breadth. In the 

 pig the number is estimated at 9,500, in the sheep at 9,600, in the rabbit 

 at 1,500, in the cow at 35,000. In man they almost touch each other 

 on some parts of the tongue, and their number is very great. " l Accord- 

 ing to Landois there are no taste buds in reptiles or birds ; while they 

 are numerous in the mouth of the tadpole, and the tongue of the frog 

 is covered with something like a gustatory epithelium. They are also 

 to be found in the mouth of the Carp and Ray. 



In addition to the tongue, the jaws and soft palate of the mouth are 

 found to be possessed in some degree of the sense of taste. While this 

 sense is not so delicate as that of smell it is often extremely fine. We 

 can distinguish the taste of one part of sulphuric acid in 1,000 parts of 

 of water. A drop of this solution on the tongue would contain -^^ of 

 a gramme ( = -^~ of a grain ). 'Chemical analysis could hardly distin- 

 guish this. ( Bernstein. ) In very many cases this sense is reinforced 

 by that of smell. And it often happens that the flavor of an article 

 cannot be recognized if the nose be closed so as to shut off the co-opera- 

 tion of the other sense. 



FIG. 226. Transverse section through 

 a circumvallate Papilla from the 

 tongue of a Calf. 



Pc.-Papilla. 



G k. Taste Buds in its side. 



JV.-Nerves. 



FIG. 227. 6, Isolated Taste Bud 

 from the lateral Taste Organ of a 

 Rabbit. 



FIG. 228. c, Isolated supporting 

 cells I)z, and sense cells Sz from 

 the same. 



As in the sense of smell, an 

 article to be tasted must be sol- 

 uble, otherwise it is only touch- 

 ed by the tongue, not tasted. 

 The taste of anything is very 

 much intensified if it be moved 

 over the surface of the tongue. 

 In this respect this sense resem- 

 bles both smell and touch; 

 smell being intensified by ' 'sniff- 

 PIGS. 226, 227, 228. in g " or violently dashing the 



odorous particles against the pituitary cells, and the sensation of touch 

 greatly increased by moving the touch organs over the object. When 

 the papillae are in action from the presence of a savorous body they be- 

 come erected and swollen so as to produce a roughness of the surface of 

 the tongue. Taste is a chemical sense, like smell. The body to be 

 1 Lubbock Senses and Instincts of Animals, 19. 



