Evening star., 1899-03-11
Is by No Means as Acute as One is
Likely to Think.
SMELL PLAYS A VERY ACTIVE PART
Interesting Results of Some Recent
Experiments.
MANY QUEER MISTAKES

| stty of Iowa, that We do not taste many
| OF the things which we cat "a our daily
| meals. 1t is asserted confidently that we
| merely smell them. When We drink cof-
| fee or tea. for Instance. We really do not
| taste Them il is the effect which they have
on the olfactory nerve that We experience
| II the nose is tightly closed in the ordi-
| nary man and he is blindfolded he viii
| not be able to distinguish coffee from water
| or weak solution of qunine This has
been proved by experiments made on many
| persons. Common coffee was said to be
water. it was also said to be quinine Water
| was said TO be coffee Tea was called cof-
| fee. Turkey was called pork Raw apple
| was called grape juice. Malt extract
| sherry wine. Lard was pronouncsi butter
| In short, experienced persons were unable
10 DISTINGUISH many common foods and
drinks when sensations of smell were re-
| moved, and the odd conclusion was reached
! that a person might even practice economy
| in eating by merely blindfoldng the eyes
| and substituting lard. pork and beef for
| butter, turkey and venison. while If the
| further precaution was taken To close the
| nose, very weak solution Of quinne would
| pass for good coffee and vinegar for the
| most costly wine.
| Interesting Experiments.
| The experiments which led to these con-
| clusions were carried on by Prof G. T W.
| Patrick of the University Of iowa. who has
| just communicated some Of the results or
his work to the American Psychological So
! ciety. Prof. Patrick was enabled to attain
! great accuracy in his work by the fact that
| one of the persons he experimental upon
| was an anosmic-that is absolutely devoid
| of the sense of smell. He was enabled thus
/ to determine which sensations were those
| of +"s-.- - which were smell He expert
| mented also on normal subjects and some
| of the results were surprising.
! There are only four simnlc taste sen
| sations. namely, sweet, bitter, and
| salt. 1t is said by some that there arc
| only two. sweet and bitter. All other sem
\ sations which are commonly called tastes ara
| complex results of sensations Of smell.
| touch. temperature and sight The means
| by which distinguish almost all Of our
| common foods and drinks Is not the sense
| of taste so much as it is the sense OF
/ smell. touch, temperature and sight. All
| the fine differences by which we distinguish
| the various fruits. meats and drinks de-
| pend not upon taste at all. but upon these
! other senses. Pure sensations of taste add
| hardly more than a certain emotional ele-
| ment to the complex sensations. Sweet
| things we call good and bitter things
We call bad while salt and sour add
| certain piquaucy, which is pleasing when
| not excessive.
Hard 10 Eliminate smell.
| A partial proof of these facts may he
| given by merely blindfodng the eyes and
| closing the nose and taking various kinds
| of foods and drinks into the month with
| out swallowing them. 1t will then be found
| many of the commonest foods and drinks.
| If the further precaution he taken To elm
| mate a much possible the senses ~
| touch and temperature upon the tongue by
| presenting the material in liquid form or
small hts the results are SIN
| more striking. 1t is always difficult to elm
| mate the sense of smell in normal subjects.
Professor Patrick was able, however. by eX-
perlmenting with a subject possessing no
sense of smell whatever, and comparing ths
results with those obtained from normal
| subjects. to get more accurate results to
the more important part played by smell in
distinguishing foods and drinks. II is. OF
course. generally known that what is pop
| ulaTly mistaken for the taste of coffee,
and wine is only their aroma or odor. BY
| these experiments, however, il was shown
that coffee and tea have distinct tas,".
which is simply bitter, and cannot DE dis
tnguished from a weak solution of quinlne.
A weak infusion of coffee or tea however.
cannot be distinguished from water. Even
with normal subjects. with the eyes and
nose closed, twenty experiments with coffee
gave the following results: Ii was called
coffee once, bitter" eleven times. "qui-
nine four times tea three umeS and
milk once. In the experiments with other
foods and drinks. the method used WAS
follows: The anoSmic subject and Two
normal subjects We're seated around
table and securely blindfolded. The sub
stance to be tasted was handed 10 them in
a silver spoon, about half teaspoouful be-
ing the amount usually taken. The sub
jects rinsed the mouth with distilled water
after each test and care was taken TO avoid
fatigue.
Some of the substances which could he
distinguished by the normal subjects blind
folded. but which could not be distinguish
ed by the anosmic subject. were the follow
ing: Chocolate, cocoa, milk, milk and water.
sour milk. nearly all the common fruits.
such as orange juice, lemon juice, crushed
banana, ounce, pineapple, raspberry. straw
berry, figs (with seeds eXtractedD, peach
silup. cherry sirup, currant jelly, tincture of
celery, boiled turnp, 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 normal alcohol vanil-
la extract. almond extract rhubarb. tine
ture 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
mutton, mutton broth, beef broth vaseline
and Kerosene. Since none of these was
ogniZed by the subject lacking the sense Of
smell and since they were recognized by
one or more of the normal subjects their
recognition must depend largely upon their
odor.
Taste and Touch.
Some OF the substances which were rec
oGniZed by the anosmic subject and which,
therefore, do not depend upon their odor
for their characteristic effect were the fol-
lowing: Pepper, mustard, cloves cinnamon,
allspice, nutmeg, meat, camphor horse
radish, crlnberries. apple raw pear,
baked apple. cornstarch, boiled rice, boiled
sweet potato, oyster stew, lard, dates,
cheese, licorice, honey, New orleans mo-
lasses. maple sirup sorghum, peanuts
chopped fne), chopped celery. raw cab
bage. white of hard-boiled egg. baked
squash and chicken broth tsalted) Even OF
these, however, probably few, IL any. were
distinguished by the unaided sense of taste,
but rather by the sense of touch upon the
tongue. In many cases the subject con-
fessed that it was rather by the texture of
the material than by its taste that il was
diSfin uyb N Sha
biting or 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 much more prominent part
than is usually supposed. With normal
subjects bnndfolded it was found impos-
sible to distinguish many of our common
foods and drinks. Different kinds Of meat
and meat broths, as well as the different
kinds of bread, We're often confused. One