If, under the simple conditions of Chevreul’s experiment, the various substances be reduced to a state of like consistency, so that they cannot be recognized by the tactile sense, observers are usually much amazed to discover that through taste alone it is impossible to distinguish between quinine and coffee or between apple and onion. Many familiar experiences of daily life testify to the large contribution which the sense of smell makes to the supposed taste. How “tasteless” are our fruits, wines, cigars, and vegetables when one has a cold in the head, and the free passage of odorous particles to the organ of smell is obstructed! How often has the nasty taste of medicine been softened by Chevreul’s simple technic of “holding the nose”! There are some cases in which the reverse of this situation occurs and volatile substances, entering the mouth through the nostrils, stimulate the taste buds in the upper and back part of the mouth. In such relatively rare cases the real taste is mistakenly interpreted as an odor. In this way chloroform seems to have the characteristic odor which is in all probability a sweet taste due to stimulation of the taste buds by the chloroform vapor. Why should it be the rule that, since the taste and smell qualities are to be confused, smell should so commonly sacrifice its claim, so that odors are called tastes rather than vice versa? No doubt this is true largely because of the customary presence of sensations of pressure, temperature, movement, and resistance which are localized in the mouth and in the organ of taste. These accompanying sensations suggest that the taste organs are active in determining the result, even when no true taste qualities are present. It is common for sensations to be displaced in some such way as this, just as the blind man, who is really getting sensations from stimuli in the palm of his hand, seems to be getting them at the end of his walking stick; or just as a faint sound may seem to come from any source to which we direct our attention. Similarly, the whole complex of touch, taste, and odor experienced as the result of “sniffing” at a particular substance are quite likely to be credited entirely to the sense of smell. _The Poverty of Taste_