Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-11
THE TIP OF THE TONGUE.
The Wonderful Organs of Touch and
Taste.
COrnhf1l Hagcsins.

JOFtNttt Idg1Stne.
When We want to assure ourselves. by
means OF taste, about any unknown oh
ject-say a lump Of some white stuff.
which may be crystal or glass or alum or
bOraX or quartz or rock salt-we put the
UP OF the tongue against it gingerly. If
IL Deglns 10 burn US we draw ii away
more or less rapidly, with an accOmpani-
ment IN language strictly dependent upon
our personal habits and manners. The
test We thus occasionally apply, even IN
the civilized adult state, TO unknown
bodies IS one that is being applied every
day and all day long By children and saw
ages. UnsOphisticated humanity is con-
stantly putting everything il sees up to
its mouth in frank spirit of expert
mental inquiry as to its gustatOry pro-
perties, In civilized life we find every
thing ready labeled and assorted for US;
We comparatively seldom require TO roll
the contents Of a suspicious bottle in
very small quantities. dOubtfully upon
the tongue in order to discover whether it
Is pale sherry or Chilli vinegar, Dublin
stout or mushroom ketchup. But in the
savage state, from which, geOlOgically
and blOlOgically speaking, we have only
just emerged, bottles and labels do not
exist. Primitive man, therefore, il his
sweet simplicity, has only two modes
open before him for deciding whether the
things he finds are or are not strictly edi-
bic. The first thing he does is to sniff at
them, and smell being, as Mr.. Herbert
Spencer has well put il, an anticipatOry
taste, generally gives him some idea of
what the thing is likely to prove. The
second thing he does is to pop it into his
mouth, and proceed practically to ex-
anime its further characteristics. Strict
" speaking, with the tip of the tongue
one can't really taste at all. II you put
a small drop of honey or of Oil Of bitter
almonds 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
dihuse itself, and reaches the true tasting
region IN the middle distance. But if YOU
put a little cayenne or mustard on the
same part, you will find that it bites you
! immedIately-the experiment should be
tried sparingly-While if you put il lower
| down in the mouth you will swallow it
almost without noticing the pungency of
/ the stimulant. The reason is that the tip
/ Of the tongue is supplied only with nerves
Z which are really nerves of touch, not
/ nerves OF taste proper; they belong TO a
| totally different main branch, and they 90
/ TO "a different centre in the brain, together
! with the very similar threads which sup
/ ply the nerves of smell for mustard and
| pepper. That is why the smell and taste
/ of these pungent substances are so much
I alike, as everybody must have noticed; a
( good sniff at a mustard pot producing
/ almost the same irritating effect as an in
/ cautious mOuthful. AS rule, we don't
! accurately distinguish, il is true, between
/ these different regions of taste in the
/ mouth in ordinary life; but that is be-
I cause we usually roll our food about In
! stinctiyely, without paying much atten-
/ ton 10 the particular part affected by 1t.
| Indeed, when one is trying deliberate eX-
| Deriments ia the subject, in order to test
| the varying constituencies Of the different
/ parts 10 different substances, it IS neces-
I sary to keep the tongue quite dry in order
I 10 isolate the thing you are experiment
! ing with and prevent its spreading to all
I parts Of the mouth together. In actual
I practice this result is obtained in rather
ludicrOus manner-by blowing upon the
/ tongue between each experiment with a
/ pair of bellows. To such undignitied
| expedieuts does the pursuit OF science
lead the ardent modern psychologist.
Those domestic rivals of DIR. Forbes VIM
slow, the servants, who behold the
/ enthusiastic investigator alternately dry
ing his tongue in this ridiculous fashion
az if he were a blacksmith's fire, anC
then squeezing out a single drop o
essence of pepper, vinegar, or beef teS
I from a glass syringe upon the dry sur
I face, not unnaturally arrive at the con
/ clusiOn that master has gone stark mad
1 and that, in their private opinion, it's TIT
microscope and the skeleton as has doE'