Bitter Sensations Research Articles

Taste Sensations in the Larynx [Ueber Geschmacksempfindungen im Kehlkopf]. (Zeits. f. Psychol., Bd. xxvii, H. 1 and 2, 1901.) Kiesow, F., and Hahn, R.

Verson, in 1868, discovered in the epiglottis nerve-endings, which he regarded as essentially resembling those which Schwalbe and Lovén had then recently discovered in the tongue of man and other mammals, and regarded as the primary organs of taste. Michelson, in 1891, brought forward experimental evidence to show that they really were capable of conveying sensations of taste. In the present paper Kiesow and Hahn, after setting forth the present state of the question, describe their own experiments, carried out at the Physiological Institute of Turin. They tested the inner surface of the epiglottis, as well as the interior of the larynx, with reference to reaction to the ordinary taste stimuli—sweet, bitter, acid, salt. Only three subjects were available for complete investigation, one of these being Kiesow himself. Schroetter's laryngeal sound was used in applying the test solutions, and various precautions were adopted in order to eliminate the obvious sources of error, while all doubtful trials were left out of account. In all three subjects the majority of experiments revealed the existence of sensibility on the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis to all four orders of test substances, although the sensations were of less intensity than when the same stimuli were applied to the tongue. All the subjects declared that they had never experienced taste sensations at such a depth, and were able to indicate on the external surface of the neck the spot at which the sensations were localised. Sweet and bitter sensations were always easily recognised. Kiesow, however, was unable to identify acid stimuli, which he felt as salt, possibly because the end organs for acid in his case were lacking, and their place taken by those reacting to salt. The experiments within the larynx, made on Kiesow alone, also revealed the presence of taste sensations.

PARALDEHYDE, SUGAR AND GERM DISEASES.

[Read before the Baltimore Academy of Medicine, November 20, 1883.] The substances that I am about to describe are interesting alike for their properties and suggestiveness, since they belong to a class of bodies that, through fermentation and degradation, are closely allied with alcohol and acetic acid. Paraldehyde was first employed by the Italians, and if we can trust accounts in the journals and individual experience, it is a very useful addition to the list of antispasmodic and sleep-producing agents. In both the concentrated and dilute state it smells and tastes somewhat like sweet spirits of nitre, but when a drop is placed on the back of the tongue, a more pungent, musty, and bitter sensation will be experienced. The odor from its vapor quickly fills an apartment, but it seems to evaporate more slowly than chloroform or ether. Its chemical formula is C6H12O3, and, as the name