Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-03-13
THE TONGUE.
The Gustatory Properties OF Its Dlminu-
tive Tip.

Ane 0ustAJory properties OF 11S O1mlnu-
tive Tip.
When we want to assure ourselves,
by means of taste, about any unknown
object -say a lumpof some white stuff.
which may be crystal or glass or alum
or borax or quartz or rock -salt-we
put the tip of the tongue against it
gingerly fit begins to burn US we
draw it away more or less rapidly, with
an accompaniment in language strictly
dependent upon our personal habits
and manners. Thestest we thus occa-
sionally apply, even in the civilized
adult states to unknown bodies is one
that is being applied every day and all
day long by children and savages. I'm
sophisticated humanity is constantly
putting everything it sees up to itst
mouth in frank spirit of experimental
inquiry as to its gustatory properties.
In civilized life we find everything
ready labeled and assorted for us; we
comparatively seldom require to roll
the contents of a suspicious bottle Cin
very small quantities) doubtfully upon
the tongue in order to discover whether
it is pale sherry or Chill vinegar. Dub-
lin stout or mushroom ketchup. But n
the savage state, from which geologi-
cally and biologically speaking, we
have only just emerged. bottles and
labels do not exist. Primitive man,
therefore, in his sweet simplicity, has
only two modes open before him for de-
Gliding whether the things he finds are
or are not strictly edible. The first
thing he does is to sniff at them, and
smell being, as Mr.. Herbert Spencer
has well put it, an anticipatory taste,
generally gives him some idea of what
the thing is likely to prove. The sec
ond thing he does is to pop it into his
mouth, and proceed practically to ex-
anime its further characteristics.
Strictly speaking. with the tip of the
tongue one can't really taste at all. If
you put small drop of honey or of oil
of bitter almons on that part of the
mouth; you will find (no doubt to your
great surprise) that it produces no effect
of any sort; you only taste it when it
begins slowly to diffuse itself and
reaches the true tasting region in the
middle distance. But if you put little
cayenne or mustard on the same part,
you will find that it bites You immedi-
ately-the experiment should be tried
sparingly-while if You put it lower
down in the mouth YOU will swallow il
almost without noticing the pungency
of the stimulant The reason is that
the tip of the tongue is supplied only
with nerves which are really nerves of
| touch, not nerves of taste proper; they
belong to totally different main
branch, and they go to a different CEN
! ter in the brain, together with the very
similar threads which supply thenerves
| of smell for mustard and pepper. That
| is why the smell and taste of these pun
| gent substances are SO much al ke. rs
everybody must have noticed a good
sniff at mustard pot producing almost
the same irritating effect as an lncau-
tious mouthful. AS rule, we don't
accurately distinguish. it is true, be-
tween these different regions of taste
| in the mouth in ordinary life; but that
is because we usually roll our food
about instinctiyely, without paying
much attention to the particular part.
affected by it. Indeed. when one is
| trying del berate experiments in the
subject, in order 10 test the varying
sensitiveness of the different parts to
| different substances. it is necessary to
keep the tongue dry in order to isolate
/ the thing you are experimenting " til
and prevent its spreading to all parts
of the mouth together. In actual prac-
tice this result is obtained in rather
ludicrous manner-by blowing upon
the tongue between each experiment
with a pair of bellows. To such un-
dignified expedients does the pursuits
of science lead the ardent modern
psychologist. Those domestic rivals of
Dr. Forbes Winslow, the servants, who
behold the enthusiastic investigator all
ternately drying his tongue in this
| ridiculous fashion, as if he were ablack-
1 smiths fire, and then squeezing out q
single drop of essence of pepper. vine-
gar, or beef tea from q glass syringe
upon the dry surface, not uanaturally
arrive at the conclusion that master
has gone stark mad. and that, in Their
private opinion, it's the microscope and
the skeleton as has doae it, Cosnhilt
Magazine.
In the matter of speed the bfcvcle