536 TAStEi 



filaments to the muscles, among which it passes, but is wholly 

 distributed to the nervous membrane of the tongue and other 

 parts which are likewise the seat of taste ; and its filaments are 

 the most abundant at the base of the tongue, where taste is the 

 most acute. 



We are thus gratified at witnessing an uniformity with the other 

 organs of sense. They have one set of nerves for their muscles ; 

 another for their common sensibility or touch, and this is the same 

 as that possessed by the tongue, or the trigeminus ; and a distinct 

 nerve for their specific sense. Sir C. Bell, having found the glosso- 

 pharyngeal arise in his respiratory tract, called it a respiratory 

 nerve, and made it preside over deglutition ; while he considered 

 the lingual to be the nerve of the specific sense, though it does 

 not arise distinctly like the olfactory, optic, and acoustic, but is 

 a mere branch of a nerve of touch of the trigeminus, which he 

 very properly classes with the double spinal nerves. " The extra- 

 ordinary part of this speculation is," Dr. Panizza remarks, " that, 

 among the arguments by which the various opinions were sup- 

 ported, the anatomical distribution of each nerve was uniformly 

 adduced; so true it is that prejudice obscures the observation as 

 well as warps the judgment." 



" For the tongue to taste properly, it must be moist, and the 

 substance to be tasted must," according to common opinion, " be 

 liquid. r For if either is in a dry state, we may perceive the presence 

 of the substances by the common sense of touch, which the tongue 

 possesses in great acuteness, but cannot discover their sapid 

 qualities." It is by no means proved, however, that the moisture 

 indispensable for taste is requisite to dissolve the substance tasted, 

 and not to fit the papillae for their office ; for moisture is secured 

 to the nerves of every sense. 



" When the tongue tastes very acutely, the papillae around its 

 apex and margins seem to be in some degree erected." 



Dr. Nehemiah Grew, in a discourse read before the Royal So- 

 ciety in 1675 s , endeavoured to show that there are at least sixteen 

 different simple tastes, which he enumerates. All these, he avers, 

 have various degrees of intensity and weakness, and may be 



r "Bellini, Gustus Organum novissime deprehensum. Bonon. 1665. 12mo." 

 * A discourse of the diversities and causes of tastes, chiefly in plants, published with 

 all his Lectures, by the Royal Society, in one folio volume. 



