EXAMINATION OF VEGETABLE POWDERS 21 



Upon applying salt and sugar at the same time, both tastes are recog- 

 nized. A very marked taste may, however, entirely obscure another 

 faint taste. 



There are a number of sensations usually recognized and designated 

 as tastes which are purely tactile and are not due to the stimulation of 

 the gustatory nerves. The most important of these are the so-called 

 pungent, hot or burning tastes of the spices and the astringent taste 

 of tannin-bearing drugs. Some authors also speak of mucilaginous, 

 gritty, sandy and cooling tastes. These are merely tactile sensations 

 of the tongue and mouth. Pepper, cinnamon, allspice, alcohol, garlic, 

 onions, horseradish, are tasteless as far as the pungency is concerned. 



Aromatic taste is also a misnomer. By this term is meant an 

 odor associated with a taste or tactile sensation. For instance, in 

 eating an apple we appreciate a sweet taste, an acid taste and an odor. 

 This explains why fruit generally has an insipid taste to those afflicted 

 with catarrh or bad colds. In the case of cinnamon there is a pungent 

 tactile sensation, a sweetish taste and an aromatic odor. In the case 

 of wine and many other alcoholic drinks there is a pungent tactile 

 sensation, a sweet taste, an acid taste and an odor. It is evident, 

 therefore, that aromatic tastes may be divided into true aromatic," 

 having a true taste combined with an odor; pseudo-aromatic, having 

 a tactile sensation usually recognized as a taste, combined with an 

 odor; and mixed aromatic, having a tactile sensation and a taste 

 combined with an odor. It is generally understood that the odors 

 associated with aromatic tastes are pleasant. Such terms as aroma, 

 flavor and bouquet, are employed in speaking of the aromatic tastes 

 of wines and other drinks, soups, spiced foods, etc. Many of the 

 finer aromas of wines, brandy, whisky and other substances are little 

 understood; some are the products of distillation and others are 

 doubtless due to subtile fermentative and chemical changes. 



Many of the true taste sensations and the commonly associated 

 tactile sensations (pungency and acridity in particular), do not 

 develop promptly. In the case of some drugs considerable time elapses 

 before the sensation is well developed. In a few instances the student 

 will conclude that the drug is tasteless, but after a time a taste or 

 tactile sensation will develop, which becomes more and more pro- 

 nounced, as, for example, the pungency of croton seed, of sanguinaria, 

 of aconite, etc. This is doubtless due to the slow solubility of the 

 sapid or pungent substance. In some drugs the taste is obscured by a 

 benumbing effect, as in aconite. 



In testing the taste of drugs it is advised not to use more material 

 than is necessary. This precaution against large doses and swallowing 



