324 
PLINY's IfATUBAL HISTOST. 
[Book XV^ 
in common to the fruits and the various juices : the sweet, the 
luscious, the unctuous, the bitter, the rough, the acrid, the 
pungent, the sharp, the sour, and the salt ; in addition to 
which, there are three other kinds of flavours of a nature that h 
truly singular. The first of these last kinds is that flavour in 
which several other flavours are united, as in wine, for in- 
stance ; for in it vfe are sensible of the rough, the pungent,^* 
and the luscious, all at the same moment, and all of them 
flavours that belong to other substances. The second of these 
flavours is that in which we are sensible at the same instant 
of a flavour that belongs to another substance, and yet of one 
that is peculiar to the individual object of which we are tast- 
ing, such as that of milk, for instance : indeed, in milk we 
cannot correctly say that there is any pronounced flavour that 
is either sweet, or unctuous, or luscious, a sort of smooth taste^^ 
in the mouth being predominant, which holds the place of a 
more decided flavour. The third instance is that of water, 
which has no flavour whatever, nor, indeed, any flavouring 
principle but still, this very absence of flavour is considered 
as constituting one of them, and forming a peculiar class^^ of 
itself ; so much so, indeed, that if in water any taste or flavour- 
ing principle is detected, it is looked upon as impure. 
In the perception of all these various flavours the smell 
plays a very considerable^^ part^ there being a very great 
affinity between them. "Water, however, is properly quite in- 
odorous : and if the least smell is to be perceived, it is not 
pure water. It is a singular thing that three of the principal 
elements of JSTature — water, air, and fire — should have neither 
taste nor smell, nor, indeed, any flavouring principle whatever. 
^2 It requires considerable discernment to appropriate nicely its English 
synonym to these four varieties of tastes, " acer, acutus, acerbus, and 
acidus,*' more especially when we find that the "bitter" and the "rough" 
are occupied already by the " amarus " and the " austerus." 
^3 In allusion, probably, to the pungency of the aroma or bouquet. 
9^ Lenitate. 
This seems to be the meaning of " succus.'' 
96 The ''insipid." 
5^ This is so much the case, that the most nauseous medicine may be' 
taken almost with impunity — so far as taste is concerned — by tightly press- 
ing the nostrils while taking it. 
Fee remarks that this is true of fire, and of distilled or perfectly pure 
water; but that physiologists are universally agreed that the air has its 
own peculiar smell. 
