IN considering the function of the sense of taste it is common to dismiss the topic in a summary manner by pointing out the fact, that in its original primitive conditions, at least, this sense enables the organism to discriminate between wholesome and deleterious food. This function is, of course, not to be neglected, especially if due credit be given to the rôle played by smell in the same service. It is however true that, although the indications of taste and smell may be, for lower forms of animal life, fairly trustworthy guides in the selection of edible substances, such criteria as taste and odor can by no means be relied on by human beings. In a general way it is, of course, true that wholesome substances possess taste qualities which are agreeable and enjoyable, while foul, decaying and poisonous substances are often characterized by tastes and odors that arouse in us disgust and revulsion. But in the complex lives of human beings, at least, this sort of natural adaptation is far from adequate to constitute a dietetic guide. Not only is it true that many substances accessible to human beings are injurious and unwholesome, in spite of their agreeable taste; it is equally true that many substances that are initially distasteful may be either nourishing or remedial. Human beings find it necessary to supplement, or even to supplant, the “beneficent guardianship” of taste by the introduction of various other sources of information and criteria of selection. We do not find, however, that the sense of taste shows any evidence of deterioration as the result of such loss of function. Probably never before in the history of our race has there been such diligence and zeal in ministering to the demands and satisfactions of our appetite. In the preparation, marketing, and serving of food the appeal through tastefulness and flavor stands second only to that through purity and cleanliness. The situation is neatly stated by Jane Addams in the following words: “Perhaps the neighborhood estimate (of their New England kitchen) was summed up by the woman who frankly confessed that the food was certainly nutritious, but that she didn’t like to eat what was nutritious; that she liked to eat ‘what she’d ruther.’” It is clear at once that the satisfactions of taste are pursued, either secretly or openly, for their own sake, and often in obvious disregard of their dietetic consequences. Shall we dismiss this pursuit as only an instance of the search for pleasure in its own right or wrong, or is there to be discerned a further function of taste experiences quite aside from their guidance to eating, their warning of danger, and their immediate sensory pleasure? _Taste and Digestion_