The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-20
is THERE A SENSE OF TASTf2
Odd Experiments of Professor Patrick of Iowa University

| tinct taste, which is simply bitter, and
can be distinguished from a weak solu-
| ton of uuinine A. weak infusion of
coffee or tea, however, cannot be dis
tinguished from water Even with nor
| NAL subjects, with the eyes and nose
closed, twenty experiments with coffee
gave the following results: 1t was
called coffee" once, bitter" eleven
times, "quinine'' four times tea" three
times and milk once. In the expert
i ments with other foods and drinks the
method used was as follows: The amos
mic subject, together, with two normal
subjects, were seated around a table
and securely blindfolded. The FIbstance
to be tasted was handed to them in {.
silver spoon, about half a teaspoonful
being the amount usually taken The
subjects rinsed the mouth with distilled
water after each test and care was ia
ken to avoid fatigue.
Some of the substances which could
be distinguished by the normal subjects
blindfoldeSl, but which could not be dis
tinguished by the anosmic subject, were
the following: Chocolate, cocoa. milk,
milk and water, sour milk, nearly all
the common fruits, such as orange
juice, crushed banana, ounce, pinehp-
pie, raspberry, strawberry, figs with
seeds extracted), peach syrup, cherry
syrup, currant jelly, tincture of celery.
boiled turnip, raw onion, boiled onion,
boiled cabbage, raw potato, boiled
pumpkin, tapioca, white of raw egg,
yolk of raw egg, yolk of boiled egg,
liquor of raw oysters sweet cream, nor
NAL alcohol, vanilla extract, almond ex-
tract, rhubarb, tincture of ginger, oil of
wintergreen, tincture of caraway, sweet
cream, olive OIL fresh butter (unsalteD,
currant jelly, ounce jelly, currant jam.
roast turkey, fried veal, boiled muttoIR
mutton BROTH beef broth, Liebig's eX-
tract, vaseline and kerosene. Since none
of these was recognized by the Subject
they were recognized by one or more of
the normal subjects, theis recognition
must depend largely upon their odor.
TASTE AND TOUCH.
Some of the substances which were
recognized by the anosrnic subject and
which, therefore, do not depend upon
their odor for their characteristic ee-
feet, we're the following: Pepper, mus
tard, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, nut
meg, meat camphor, horseradish, cram
berries, raw apple, raw pear, baked ap-
pie, cornstarch, boiled rice, boiled po-
tato, navy beans, canned tomatoes,
baked sweet potato, oyster stew, lard,
dates, cheese, licorice, honey, New Or
leans molasses, maple syrup, sorghum,
peanuts Chopped fne), chopped celery,
raw cabbage, while of hard boiled egg,
baked squash and chicken broth (salt-
ed). Even of these, however, probably
few, if any, were distinguished by the
unaided sense of taste, but rather by
the sense of touch upon the tongues. In
many cases the subject confessed that
it was rather by the texture. of the ma
terial than by its taste that it was dis
while in others the sharp
biting of pungent effect, as in the case
of the spices, camphor, horseradish, etc,
is easily confused with taste.
TASTE AND SIGHT.
In the recognition of foods and drinks
as well as in their enjoyment, the sense
of sight plays a much more prominent
part than is usually supposed. With
normal subjects blindfolded it was
found impossible to- distinguish many
of our common foods and drinks. Diff
ferent kinds of meat and meat broths, |
as we'll as the different kinds of bread, |
were often confused One subject, a
woman noted for her skill in cooking,
made the following Judgments: Raw
potato chopped she called acorns; boiled |
pumpkin she said was something sweet |
and fiat; fresh pear she called sweet |
berry slightly fermented; roast pork
she called boiled beef: raw turnip |
she called cabbage sweetened; |
raw apple was grape juice; roast tur-
key was called beef, and horseradisih
she said was something she had never
tasted. THEODORE WATERS.