In the chapters which follow an attempt is made to portray this contact in a manner which is both clear and concrete, yet scientifically accurate and technically complete. There are first considered the actual experiences which the sense of taste affords, their character, their analysis into the elementary qualities, and the classification, relations, and manner of combination of these qualities. A consideration of the delicacy of the taste sense, the precision of taste discrimination, and their methods of measurement, is followed by a discussion of the time relations of taste sensations, and a description of various special characteristics and phenomena of normal and abnormal tastes. At this point there is presented a detailed description and illustration of the mechanism and function of the organ of taste, its gross structure and anatomy, its accessory apparatus, its more minute nervous basis and composition, and its evolution in the individual and in the lower animal forms. Chapters are given to the nature of the external stimulus which provokes taste sensations, to disorders of the taste sense, to the differences between individuals, and to the function of sensations of taste in the higher mental processes of imagination, association, memory, and emotion. Finally, an account of the function of taste in the life of the organism is followed by a consideration of the place of the sense of taste in æsthetics and art, and in the complex interplay of human thought and social communication. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION vii PREFACE xiii I THE QUALITIES OF TASTE 1 The Taste Manifold—The Classification of Tastes—Taste Blends and Fusions—The Poverty of Taste—Psychological Analysis of the Taste Qualities—Distribution of the Taste Qualities—The Vocabulary of Taste. II THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TASTES 27 System and Organization in Other Senses—Taste Mixtures and Compounds—Compensation, Antagonism, and Neutralization—Contrast Phenomena—After Images of Taste—The Schema of Taste Relations. III THE SENSITIVENESS OF TASTE 43 Various Measures of Sensitiveness—The Threshold of Taste Sensation—Relative Sensitivity of Taste and Smell—The Discrimination of Tastes—Adaptation and Fatigue—Acquired Tastes—The Early Development of Taste.