A Practical Physiology Part 33

Experiment 140. Cross the middle over the index finger, roll a small marble between the fingers; one has a distinct impression of two marbles. Cross the fingers in the same way, and rub them against the point of the nose. A similar illusion is experienced.

Experiment 141. _To test the sense of locality_. Ask a person to shut his eyes, touch some part of his body lightly with the point of a pin, and ask him to indicate the part touched.

As to the general temperature, this sense is relative and is much modified by habit, for what is cold to an inhabitant of the torrid zone would be warm to one accustomed to a very cold climate.

Pain is an excessive stimulation of the sensory nerves, and in it all finer sensations are lost. Thus, when a piece of hot iron burns the hand, the sensation is the same as when the iron is very cold, and extreme cold feels like intense heat.

317. The Organ of Taste. The sense of taste is located chiefly in the tongue, but may also be referred even to the regions of the fauces.

Taste, like touch, consists in a particular mode of nerve termination.

The tongue is a muscular organ covered with mucous membrane, and is richly supplied with blood-vessels and nerves. By its complicated movements it is an important factor in chewing, in swallowing, and in articulate speech. The surface of the tongue is covered with irregular projections, called papillae,--fine hair-like processes, about 1/12 of an inch high. Interspersed with these are the fungiform papillae.

These are shaped something like a mushroom, and may often be detected by their bright red points when the rest of the tongue is coated.

Towards the root of the tongue is another kind of papillae, the circ.u.mvallate, eight to fifteen in number, arranged in the form of the letter V, with the apex directed backwards. These are so called because they consist of a fungiform papilla surrounded by a fold of mucous membrane, presenting the appearance of being walled around.

In many of the fungiform and most of the circ.u.mvallate papillae are peculiar structures called taste buds or taste goblets. These exist in great numbers, and are believed to be connected with nerve fibers. These taste buds are readily excited by savory substances, and transmit the impression along the connected nerve.

The tongue is supplied with sensory fibers by branches from the fifth and eighth pairs of cranial nerves. The former confers taste on the front part of the tongue, and the latter on the back part. Branches of the latter also pa.s.s to the soft palate and neighboring parts and confer taste on them. The motor nerve of the tongue is the ninth pair, the hypoglossal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 125.--The Tongue.

A, epiglottis; B, glands at the base of tongue; C, tonsil; D, median circ.u.mvallate papilla, E, circ.u.mvallate papillae; F, filiform papillae; H, furrows on border of the tongue; K, fungiform papillae.

318. The Sense of Taste. The sense of taste is excited by stimulation of the mucous membrane of the tongue and of the palate, affecting the ends of the nerve fibers. Taste is most acute in or near the circ.u.mvallate papillae. The middle of the tongue is scarcely sensitive to taste, while the edges and the tip are, as a rule, highly sensitive.

Certain conditions are necessary that the sense of taste may be exercised. First, the substance to be tasted must be in _solution_, or be soluble in the fluids of the mouth. Insoluble substances are tasteless. If we touch our tongue to a piece of rock crystal, there is a sensation of contact or cold, but no sense of taste. On the other hand, when we bring the tongue in contact with a piece of rock salt, we experience the sensations of contact, coolness, and saline taste.

Again, the mucous membrane of the mouth must be _moist_. When the mouth is dry, and receives substances not already in solution, there is no saliva ready to dissolve them; hence, they are tasteless. This absence of taste is common with the parched mouth during a fever.

The tongue a.s.sists in bringing the food in contact with the nerves, by pressing it against the roof of the mouth and the soft palate, and thus is produced the fullest sense of taste.

319. Physiological Conditions of Taste. The tongue is the seat of sensations which are quite unlike each other. Thus, besides the sense of taste, there is the sensation of touch, pressure, heat and cold, burning or acrid feelings, and those produced by the application of the tongue to an interrupted electric current. These are distinct sensations, due to some chemical action excited probably in the touch cells, although the true tastes may be excited by causes not strictly chemical. Thus a smart tap on the tongue may excite the sensation of taste.

In the majority of persons the back of the tongue is most sensitive to bitters, and the tip to sweets. Saline matters are perceived most distinctly at the tip, and acid substances at the sides. The nerves of taste are sensitive in an extraordinary degree to some articles of food and certain drugs. For example, the taste of the various preparations of quinine, peppermint, and wild cherry is got rid of with difficulty.

Like the other special senses, that of taste may become fatigued. The repeated tasting of one substance rapidly deadens the sensibility, probably by over-stimulation. Some savors so impress the nerves of taste that others fail to make any impression. This principle is used to make disagreeable medicine somewhat tasteless. Thus a few cloves, or grains of coffee, or a bit of pepper, eaten before a dose of castor oil, renders it less nauseous.

Flavor is something more than taste. It is in reality a mixed sensation, in which smell and taste are both concerned, as is shown by the common observation that one suffering from a cold in the head, which blunts his sense of smell, loses the proper flavor of his food. So if a person be blindfolded, and the nose pinched, he will be unable to distinguish between an apple and an onion, if one be rubbed on the tongue after the other. As soon as the nostrils are opened the difference is at once perceived.

Experiment 142. Put a drop of vinegar on a friend's tongue, or on your own. Notice how the papillae of the tongue start up.

Experiment 143. Rub different parts of the tongue with the pointed end of a piece of salt or gum-aloes, to show that the _back_ of the tongue is most sensitive to salt and bitter substances.

Experiment 144. Repeat the same with some sweet or sour substances, to show that the _edges_ of the tongue are the most sensitive to these substances.

Experiment 145. We often fail to distinguish between the sense of taste and that of smell. Chew some pure, roasted coffee, and it seems to have a distinct taste. Pinch the nose hard, and there is little taste.

Coffee has a powerful odor, but only a feeble taste. The same is true of garlic, onions, and various spices.

Experiment 146. Light helps the sense of taste. Shut the eyes, and palatable foods taste insipid. Pinch the nose, close the eyes, and see how palatable one half of a teaspoonful of cod-liver oil becomes.

Experiment 147. Close the nostrils, shut the eyes, and attempt to distinguish by taste alone between a slice of an apple and one of a potato.

320. Modifications of the Sense of Taste. Taste is modified to a great extent by habit, education, and other circ.u.mstances. Articles of food that are unpleasant in early life often become agreeable in later years. There is occasionally a craving, especially with people of a peculiar nervous organization, for certain unnatural articles (as chalk and laundry starch) which are eaten without the least repugnance. Again, the most savory dishes may excite disgust, while the simplest articles may have a delicious flavor to one long deprived of them. The taste for certain articles is certainly acquired. This is often true of raw tomatoes, olives, and especially of tobacco.

The organs of taste and smell may be regarded as necessary accessories of the general apparatus of nutrition, and are, therefore, more or less essential to the maintenance of animal life. While taste and smell are generally maintained until the close of life, sight and hearing are often impaired by time, and may be altogether destroyed, the other vital functions remaining unimpaired.

321. Effect of Tobacco and Alcohol upon Taste. It would be remarkable if tobacco should fail to injure the sense of taste. The effect produced upon the tender papillae of the tongue by the nicotine-loaded juices and the acrid smoke tends to impair the delicate sensibility of the entire surface. The keen appreciation of fine flavors is destroyed. The once clear and enjoyable tastes of simple objects become dull and vapid; thus highly spiced and seasoned articles of food are in demand, and then follows continued indigestion, with all its suffering.

Again, the burning, almost caustic effect of the stronger alcoholic drinks, and the acrid pungency of tobacco smoke, are disastrous to the finer perceptions of both taste and odors.

322. Smell. The sense of smell is lodged in the delicate membrane which lines the nasal cavities. The floor, sides, and roof of these cavities are formed by certain bones of the cranium and the face.

Man, in common with all air-breathing animals, has two nasal cavities.

They communicate with the outer air by two nostrils opening in front, while two other pa.s.sages open into the pharynx behind.

To increase the area of the air pa.s.sages, the two light, spongy turbinated bones, one on each side, form narrow, winding channels. The mucous membrane, with the branches of the olfactory nerve, lines the dividing wall and the inner surfaces of these winding pa.s.sages. Below all these bones the lower turbinated bones may be said to divide the olfactory chamber above from the ordinary air pa.s.sages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 126.--Distribution of Nerves over the Interior of the Nostrils. (Outer wall.)

A, branches of the nerves of smell--olfactory nerve, or ganglion; B, nerves of common sensation to the nostril; E, F, G, nerves to the, palate springing from a ganglion at C; H, vidian nerve, from which branches D, I, and J spring to be distributed to the nostrils.

The nerves which supply the nasal mucous membrane are derived from the branches of the fifth and the first pair of cranial nerves,--the olfactory. The latter, however, are the nerves of smell proper, and are spread out in a kind of thick brush of minute nerve filaments. It is in the mucous membrane of the uppermost part of the cavity of the nostril that the nerve endings of smell proper reside. The other nerves which supply the nostrils are those of common sensation (sec. 271).

323. The Sense of Smell. The sense of smell is excited by the contact of odorous particles contained in the air, with the fibers of the olfactory nerves, which are distributed over the delicate surface of the upper parts of the nasal cavities. In the lower parts are the endings of nerves of ordinary sensation. These latter nerves may be irritated by some substance like ammonia, resulting in a powerfully pungent sensation.

This is not a true sensation of smell, but merely an irritation of a nerve of general sensation.

In ordinary quiet breathing, the air simply flows along the lower nasal pa.s.sages into the pharynx, scarcely entering the olfactory chamber at all.

This is the reason why, when we wish to perceive a faint odor, we sniff up the air sharply. By so doing, the air which is forcibly drawn into the nostrils pa.s.ses up even into the higher olfactory chamber, where some of the floating particles of the odorous material come into contact with the nerves of smell.

One of the most essential conditions of the sense of smell is that the nasal pa.s.sages be kept well bathed in the fluid secreted by the lining membrane. At the beginning of a cold in the head, this membrane becomes dry and swollen, thus preventing the entrance of air into the upper chamber, deadening the sensibility of the nerves, and thus the sense of smell is greatly diminished.

The delicacy of the sense of smell varies greatly in different individuals and in different animals. It is generally more acute in savage races. It is highly developed in both the carnivora and the herbivora. Many animals are more highly endowed with this sense than is man. The dog, for example, appears to depend on the sense of smell almost as much as on sight. It is well known, also, that fishes have a sense of smell. Fragments of bait thrown into the water soon attract them to a fishing ground, and at depths which little or no light can penetrate. Deer, wild horses, and antelopes probably surpa.s.s all other animals in having a vivid sense of smell.

Smell has been defined as "taste at a distance," and it is obvious that these two senses not only form a natural group, but are clearly a.s.sociated in their physical action, especially in connection with the perception of the flavor of food. The sense of odor gives us information as to the quality of food and drink, and more especially as to the quality of the air we breathe. Taste is at the gateway of the alimentary ca.n.a.l, while smell acts as the sentinel of the respiratory tract. Just as taste and flavor influence nutrition by affecting the digestive process, so the agreeable odors about us, even those of the perfumes, play an important part in the economy of life.

324. The Sense of Sight. The sight is well regarded as the highest and the most perfect of all our senses. It plays so common and so beneficent a part in the animal economy that we scarcely appreciate this marvelous gift. Sight is essential not only to the simplest matters of daily comfort and necessity, but is also of prime importance in the culture of the mind and in the higher forms of pleasure. It opens to us the widest and the most varied range of observation and enjoyment. The pleasures and advantages it affords, directly and indirectly, have neither cessation nor bounds.

Apart from its uses, the eye itself is an interesting and instructive object of study. It presents beyond comparison the most beautiful example of design and artistic workmanship to be found in the bodily structure. It is the watchful sentinel and investigator of the external world. Unlike the senses of taste and smell we seem, by the sense of vision, to become aware of the existence of objects which are entirely apart from us, and which have no direct or material link connecting them with our bodies. And yet we are told that in vision the eye is affected by something which is as material as any substance we taste or smell.

[NOTE. "The higher intelligence of man is intimately a.s.sociated with the perfection of the eye. Crystalline in its transparency, sensitive in receptivity, delicate in its adjustments, quick in its motions, the eye is a fitting servant for the eager soul, and, at times, the truest interpreter between man and man of the spirit's inmost workings. The rainbow's vivid hues and the pallor of the lily, the fair creations of art and the glance of mutual affection, all are pictured in its translucent depths, and transformed and glorified by the mind within.

Banish vision, and the material universe shrinks for us to that which we may touch; sight alone sets us free to pierce the limitless abyss of s.p.a.ce."--M'Kendrick and Snodgra.s.s's _Physiology of the Senses_.]

Physicists tell us that this material, known as the _luminiferous ether_, permeates the universe, and by its vibrations transmits movements which affect the eye, giving rise to the sensation of light, and the perception of even the most distant objects. Our eyes are so constructed as to respond to the vibrations of this medium for the transmission of light.