See also:

• TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

TASTE (from See also:

• LAT

Lat. taxare, to See also:

• TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch sharply; tangere, to touch)  , in See also:

• PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

physiology, the sensation referred to the mouth when certain soluble substances are brought into contact with the mucous membrane of that cavity . By See also:

• ANALOGY (Gr. avaXo-yLa, proportion)

analogy, the word " See also:

• TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste " is used also of aesthetic appreciation (see See also:

• AESTHETICS

AESTHETICS) and a sense of beauty—commonly with the qualifications " See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good taste " and " See also:

• BAD, BCD

bad taste." The physiological sense is located almost entirely in the See also:

• TONGUE (O. Eng. lunge)

tongue . Three distinct sensations are referable to the tongue—(1) taste, (2) See also:

• TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch, and (3) temperature . The posterior See also:

• PART

part of its See also:

• SURFACE

surface, where there is a A-shaped See also:

• GROUP

group of large papillae, called circumvallate papillae, supplied by the glosso-pharyngeal See also:

• NERVE (Lat. nervus, Gr. vevpov, a bowstring)

nerve, and the tip and margins of the tongue, covered with filiform (touch) papillae and fungiform papillae, are the See also:

• CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief localities where taste is manifested, but it also exists in theglosso-See also:

• PALATINE (from Lat. palatium, a palace,)

palatine See also:

• ARCH
• ARCH, JOSEPH (1826– )

arch and the lateral part of the soft See also:

• PALATE (Lat. palatum, possibly from the root of pascere, to feed)

palate . The See also:

• MIDDLE

middle of the tongue and the surface of the hard palate are devoid of taste . The terminal See also:

• ORGANS

organs of taste consist of See also:

• PECULIAR

peculiar bodies named taste-bulbs or taste-goblets, discovered by Schwalbe and S . L . Loven in 1867 . They can be most easily demonstrated in the papillae foliatae, large See also:

• OVAL (Lat. ovum, egg)

oval prominences found on each See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side near the See also:

• BASE

base of the tongue in the See also:

• RABBIT

rabbit . Each papilla consists of a See also:

• SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of laminae or folds, in the sides of which the taste-bodies are readily displayed in a transverse See also:

• SECTION
• SECTION (Lat. sectio, cutting, secare, to cut)

section . Taste-bodies are also found on the lateral aspects of the circumvallate papillae (see Fig . 1), in the fungiform papillae, in the papillae of the soft palate and uvula, the under surface of the epiglottis, the upper part of the posterior surface of the epiglottis; the inner sides of the See also:

• ARYTENOID

arytenoid cartilages, and even in the vocal cords .

The taste-bulbs are See also:

• MINUTE
• MINUTE (Lat. minutes, small; minuere, to make less)

minute oval bodies, somewhat like an old-fashioned See also:

• FLORENCE
• FLORENCE (Ital. Firenze, Lat. Florentia)

Florence See also:

• FLASK

flask, about soa See also:

• INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch in length by sh in breadth . Each consists of two sets of cells—an See also:

• OUTER

outer set, nucleated, fusiform, See also:

• BENT
• BENT (E1. BENI)
• BENT, JAMES THEODORE (1852–1897)

bent like the staves of a See also:

• BARREL (a word of uncertain origin common to Romance languages; the Celtic forms, as in the Gaelic baraill, are derived from the English)

barrel, and arranged side by side so as to leave a small opening at the See also:

• APEX

apex (the mouth of the barrel), called the gustatory See also:

• PORE

pore; and an inner set, five to ten in number, lying in the centre, pointed at the end next the gustatory pore, and branched at the other extremity . The branched ends are continuous with non-medullated nerve See also:

• FIBRES
• FIBRES (or FIBERS, in American spelling; from Lat. fibra, apparently connected either with filum, thread, or findere, to split)

fibres from the gustatory nerve . These taste-bodies are found in immense See also:

• NUMBERS, BOOK OF
• NUMBERS, PARTITION OF

numbers: as many as 176o have been counted on one circumvallate papilla in the ox . The proofs that these are the terminal organs of taste See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest on careful observations which have shown (I) that taste is only experienced when the sapid substance is allowed to come into contact with the taste-See also:

• BODY

body, and that the sense is absent or much weakened in those areas of mucous membrane where these are deficient; (2) that they are most abundant where the sense is most acute; and (3) that section of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve which is known to be distributed to the areas of mucous membrane where taste is See also:

• PRESENT

present is followed by degeneration of the taste-bodies . At the same See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time it cannot be asserted that they are absolutely essential to taste, as we can hardly suppose that those animals which have no See also:

• SPECIAL

special taste-bodies are devoid of the sense . See also:

• EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

Evidence is accumulating that taste depends on See also:

• NERVOUS

nervous impulses excited by chemical See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change . Substances that haves taste must be soluble . Chemical changes are in all See also:

• PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

probability set up in the taste-cells, or in the processes connected with them . Some progress has been made in the See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to establish a d' connexion between the chemical See also:

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION (Lat. compositio, from componere, to put together)

composition of sapid substances and the different kinds of taste to which they may give rise . Thus acids are usually sour; alkaloids have a peculiar soapy taste; salts may be sweet, like See also:

• SUGAR

sugar of See also:

• LEAD
• LEAD (pronounced iced)

lead, or See also:

• BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter, like sulphate of See also:

• MAGNESIA

magnesia; soluble alkaloids, such as See also:

• QUININE

quinine or See also:

• STRYCHNINE

strychnine, are usually bitter; and the higher See also:

• ALCOHOLS
• ALCOHOLS, ALDEHYDES AND
• ALCOHOLS, BENZYL ALCOHOL, BUTYL ALCOHOLS, METHYL ALCOHOL

alcohols are more or less sweet . Substances which taste sweet or bitter often contain definite See also:

• GROUPS
• GROUPS, THEORY

groups in the See also:

• MOLECULE (from mod. Lat. molecula, the diminutive of moles, a mass)

molecule, especially in the hydroxyl (HO) and amido (See also:

• NH2

NH2) groups .

By altering the I chemical composition of a substance having a characteristic taste (changing the position or relations of the radicles), the substance may become tasteless or intensely bitter . The sensation of taste may also be excited mechanically, as by smartly tapping the tongue, or by the stimulus of a continuous current . In the latter See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case electrolytic change may be the exciting cause; but that the sense organs may be stimulated electrically is proved by the fact that rapidly interrupted induced currents, which produce little or no See also:

• ELECTROLYSIS (formed from Gr. Xbety, to loosen)

electrolysis, may also excite taste . Sensations of taste are heightened by increasing the See also:

• AREA

area of the tongue affected, and by See also:

• MECHANICAL

mechanical stimulation, as when the tongue is pressed against the lips, cheeks or palate . A temperature of about 40° C. is most favourable, either extreme See also:

• HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat or See also:

• COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold apparently benumbing the sense for a time . Gustatory sensations affect each other: that is to say, a strong taste will affect the taste of another body taken immediately after it . Thus sweetness will modify bitterness, and sourness will modify both . Moreover, the application of a sapid sub-stance to the tongue will affect taste in other parts . If the same taste is excited on each side of the tongue, although there are two sets of gustatory nerves, one for each lateral See also:

• HALF

half, the sensations are blended into one; while if two different sub-stances, say one sweet and the other bitter, are simultaneously applied, one to each side, the observer can distinctly differentiate the one from the other . Tastes have been variously classified . One of the most useful classifications is into sweet, bitter, See also:

• ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid and saline tastes . Insoluble substances, when brought into contact with the tongue, give rise to feelings of touch or of temperature, but excite no taste .

If solutions of various substances are gradually diluted with See also:

• WATER

water until no taste is experienced, G . G . Valentin found that the sensations of taste disappeared in the following See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order—See also:

• SYRUP (0. Fr. ysserop, mod. sirop, Span. xarope, for axarope, Arab. al, the, and sharab, drink; cf. Sherbet " and " Shrub ")

syrup, sugar, See also:

• COMMON

common See also:

• SALT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch zout, Ger. Salz, Scand. salt; cognate with Gr. &Xs, Lat. sal)
• SALT, SIR TITUS, BART

salt, aloes, quinine, sulphuric acid; and Camerer found that the taste of quinine still continued although diluted with twenty times more water than common salt . The time required to excite taste after the sapid substance was placed on the tongue varies . Thus saline matters are tasted most rapidly (•17 second), then sweet, acid and bitter (.258 second) . There are many curious examples of substances of very different chemical constitutions having similar tastes . For example, sugar, acetate of lead and the vapour of See also:

• CHLOROFORM (trichlor-methane), CHC13

chloroform have all a sweetish taste . A temperature of from 50° to 90° F. is the most favourable to the sense, water above or below this temperature either masking or temporarily paralysing it . As a See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general See also:

• RULE

rule, bitter tastes are most acute at the back of the tongue, near the circumvallate papillae, and sweet tastes at the tip, but there are considerable individual See also:

• VARIATIONS
• VARIATIONS, CALCULUS
• VARIATIONS, CALCULUS OF

variations . Some persons taste both bitter and sweet substances best at the back, while others taste bitter things at the tip . Many experience salt tastes best at the tip, and acid tastes at the sides of the tongue . When we consider that there are three kinds of papillae on the surface of the tongue, one would expect to meet with different degrees of sensitiveness to different tastes, even while we admit that the papillae may also have to do with sensations of touch and of temperature .

By experimenting with See also:

• FINE

fine capillary tubes containing sapid substances, observations have been made with individual papillae . Some are found to be sensitive to many tastes, others to two or three, others to only one, while others are insensitive to taste altogether . Again, it has been found that a mixture of sapid substances, say of quinine and sugar, may taste sweet when applied to one papilla end bitter when applied to another . The inference must bethat there are special terminal organs for different tastes . Assuming that there are different kinds of taste-cells, it might be possible to paralyse some without affecting others, and thus different sensations of taste might be discriminated . This has been done by the use of the leaves of a common See also:

• INDIAN

Indian plant, Gymnema sylvestre . If some of these be chewed, it has been found that See also:

• BITTERS

bitters and sweets are paralysed (neither quinine nor sugar giving rise to sensation), while acids and salines are unaffected . Again, certain strengths of decoctions of the leaves appear to paralyse sweets sooner than bitters . These observations show the existence of different taste-cells for sweets, bitters, acids and salines; and it is clear that the region of the tongue most richly supplied with taste-cells sensitive to sweets will See also:

• RESPOND

respond best to sweet substances, while another region, supplied by taste-cells sensitive to bitters, will respond best to bitter substances . In like manner the See also:

• ARGUMENT

argument may be applied to other tastes . Suppose, again, a set of taste-cells sensitive to bitter substances: it is conceivable that in whatever way these were irritated, a bitter taste would result . If so, a substance which, applied to one part of the tongue, would cause a sweet sensation, might cause a bitter if applied to a part of the tongue richly supplied with taste-cells sensitive to bitters .

This may explain why sulphate of magnesia excites at the See also:

• ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
• ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )

root of the tongue a bitter taste, while applied to the tip it causes a sweet or an acid taste . Saccharine, a peculiar See also:

• TOLUENE, or METHYLBENZENE

toluene derivative, in like manner is sweet to the tip and bitter to the back of the tongue . It has also been found that if the sweet and bitter taste-cells are paralysed by Gymnema, See also:

• ELECTRICAL
• ELECTRICAL (or ELECTROSTATIC) MACHINE

electrical irritation of the tip by a weak interrupted current does not give rise to an acid taste mixed with sweet, as it usually does, but to sensations somewhat different, which may be described as metallic or salt or acid . This experiment indicates that the See also:

• ACTION

action of the interrupted current on the terminal See also:

• ORGAN

organ is analogous to the action of sweet or bitter substances (See also:

• SHORE

Shore) . No See also:

• DIRECT

direct observations of importance have yet been made on single circumvallate papillae . Further experiments with capillary tubes show that fungiform papillae destitute of taste buds, and areas of the surface of the tongue having neither papillae nor taste buds, may still, when stimulated by sapid substances, give rise to tastes . Taste is often associated with See also:

• SMELL (connected etymologically with " smoulder " and " smoke ")

smell (q.v.), giving rise to a sensation of flavour, and we are frequently in the See also:

• HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of confounding the one sensation with the other . Chloroform excites taste alone, whilst See also:

• GARLIC (O. Eng. gdrledc, i.e. " spear-leek "; Gr. oKbpolov; Lat. allium; Ital. aglio; Fr. ail; Ger. Knoblauch)

garlic, asafoetida and See also:

• VANILLA

vanilla excite only smell . This is illustrated by the See also:

• FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

familiar experiment of blindfolding a See also:

• PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person and touching the tongue successively with slices of an See also:

• APPLE (a common Teut. word, A.S. aepl, aeppel, O.H.G. aphul, aphal, apfal, mod. Ger. Apfel)

apple and of an See also:

• ONION (Fr. oignon, Lat. unio, liberally unity, oneness, applied to a large pearl and to a species of onion)

onion . In these circumstances the one cannot be distinguished from the other when the See also:

• NOSE (O.Eng. nosu, cf. Dutch neus, Swed. nos, snout; the Aix in Provence. Both at Aix and at Lyons he acquired great connexion with O.Eng. nasu is obscure, cf. Ger. Nase, Lat. pares, distinction by his labours during outbreaks of the plague. In nostrils,

nose is firmly closed . Taste may be educated to a remarkable extent; and careful observation—along with the practice of avoiding all substances having a very pronounced taste or having an irritating effect—enables See also:

• TEA (Chinese cha, Amoy dialect t€)

tea-tasters and See also:

• WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine-tasters to detect slight See also:

• DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences of taste, more especially when combined with odour so as to produce flavour, which would be quite inappreciable to an See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary palate . As to the action of electrical currents on taste, observers have arrived at uncertain results .

So See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long ago as 1752 J . G . Sulzer stated that a See also:

• CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant current caused, more especially at the moments of opening and of closing the current, a sensation of acidity at the anode (+ See also:

• POLE (FAMILY)
• POLE, REGINALD (1500-1558)
• POLE, RICHARD DE LA (d. 1525)
• POLE, WILLIAM (1814—1900)

pole) and of alkalinity at the katode (—pole) . This is in all probability due to electrolysis, the decomposition products exciting the taste-bodies . Rapidly interrupted currents fail to excite the sense . Disease of the tongue causing unnatural dryness may interfere with taste . Substances circulating in the See also:

• BLOOD

blood may give rise to subjective sensations of taste . Thus santonine, morphia and biliary products (as in See also:

• JAUNDICE (Fr. jaunisse, from jaune, yellow), or IUTERUS (from its resemblance to the colour of the golden oriole, of which Pliny relates that if a jaundiced person looks upon it he recovers but the bird dies)

jaundice) usually cause a bitter sensation, whilst the sufferer from See also:

• DIABETES (from Gr. &a, through, and faivecv, to pass)

diabetes is distressed by a persistent sweetish taste . The insane frequently have subjective tastes, which are real to the patient, and frequently cause much See also:

• DISTRESS

distress . In such cases, the sensation is excited by changes in the taste-centres of the See also:

• BRAIN (A.S. braegen)

brain . Increase in the sense of taste is called hypegeusia, diminution of it hypogeusia, and its entire loss ageusia . Rare cases occur where there is a subjective taste not associated with See also:

• INSANITY (from Lat. in, not, and sanus, sound)

insanity nor with the circulation of any known sweetish matters in the blood, possibly caused by irritation of the gustatory nerves or by changes in the nerve centres .

For the See also:

• ANATOMY
• ANATOMY (Gr. avaroyil, from ava-silo c', to cut up)

anatomy of the organs of taste, see the articles MOUTH and TONGUE . (J . G .