company. Cold deadens taste to some 
extent and heat acts in nearly the same 
way. Rinse the mouth with very warm 
or very cold water and then take in a 
solution of quinine at about forty de- 
grees temperature and the bitter fluid 
will have almost no bitterness till the 
temperature of the mouth and its con- 
tents becomes somewhere near one hun- 
dred degrees. 
Three things are necessary in a sub- 
stance in order that it may be tasted, 
and it is curious to note how common 
are all three. First, it must be easily 
mixed with the saliva; second, it must 
easily spread itself about so that it may 
mingle with the mucus that always 
covers the papillae; and third, it 
must be capable of acting chemically 
on the protoplasm of the end organs 
when once it gets into the taste bulb. 
All tasteless substances have one or 
more of these qualities lacking. Wipe 
the tongue dry and place a sugar crys- 
tal upon it. No taste will be experi- 
enced until the spot is moistened. 
Allsubstances do not taste alike to 
different tongues, We have noted the 
difference in appreciation of certain 
foods in infancy and in mature years. 
Water tastes differently to the fever pa- 
tient and to the well man. As sub- 
stances taste differently at different 
times to the same person, so they vary 
with individuals. One tongue is found 
on careful examination to have three 
times as many papillae as another, one 
system is more susceptible to chemical 
action than another, and the nervous 
system varies enough in different sub- 
jects to make a considerable difference 
in the powers of taste. 
One guest at table is delighted with 
a dish which appeals not at all to the 
palate of his neighbor. In fact there 
are cases where the power of taste has 
been temporarily or entirely lost. In 
such cases the patient goes on with 
his daily eating in a mechanical way, 
not because it tastes good, but because 
he must. 
There seem to be different nerves for 
sweet, for bitter, for salty things, and 
for acids. Substances are known to 
chemistry which act differently on the 
nerves of the front and those of the 
back of the tongue. They very cur- 
iously taste sweet to the nerves of the 
tip of the tongue and at the same in- 
stant bitter to those at the base. If 
leaves of the Gy nine ma sylvestre be 
chewed, sweet and bitter things are 
tasteless for awhile although acids and 
salts are tasted as usual. 
Let an electric current pass through 
the tongue from the tip to the 
root and a sour taste will be exper- 
ienced at the tip. But no one has yet 
explained why when the same sort of 
current is passed through in the oppo- 
site direction the taste is alkaline. 
Place a small piece of zinc under the 
tongue and a dime on top. The saliva 
which moistens them will cause them 
to form a small galvanic battery. As 
they are allowed to touch each other 
at the tip of the tongue a sour taste will 
be experienced and in the dark a spark 
will appear to the eyes. 
There is a pretty microscopic forma- 
tion on the sides of some of the papillae. 
It consists of rows of small openings or 
sacs egg-shaped with very minute 
mouths at the surface. These are 
known to science as taste bulbs. They 
are so small that three hundred of 
them put together the long way will 
scarcely reach one inch. They are so 
numerous that 1,760 have been counted 
on one papilla of an ox's tongue. They 
are not entirely confined to the surface 
of the tongue, for they have been found 
in large numbers upon the soft palate 
and the uvula, and many have been 
discovered on the back side of the 
throat and down into the voice box, 
some of them even appearing upon the 
vocal cords. Their form is much like 
that of a long musk melon, but they 
are too small to be seen by the naked 
eye. The outer part or rind consists of 
rows of cells evidently formed to hold 
what is within. On the inside are from 
five to ten taste cells which are long 
enough to reach the whole length of 
the bulb and protrude slightly at the 
opening where they are finely pointed. 
They are attached at the other end and 
branch out as if to run to several ex- 
tremely fine divisions of the nerves. 
Birds and reptiles have no taste bulbs 
in their papillae. Tadpoles and fresh- 
water fishes have similar bulbs in their 
skin, and it is thought they enjoy the 
