Letters on the Human Body/Letter 4
LETTER IV.
On the Bodily Sense of Taste, and its Connection with Mental Taste.
- My Dear Sir,
My Dear Sir,In my last two letters I sent you an abridgment of my thoughts on the two bodily senses of seeing and hearing, which I call an abridgment, because I feel it impossible, in the compass of a letter, to express to you a hundredth part of what I think on these two stupendous organs, the human eye and ear. For to say nothing of their curious mechanism, which so forcibly proclaims a DIVINE SKILL and CONTRIVANCE, what shall we say of the powers or faculties, with which, as instruments, they are invested; whilst we behold them placed, as it were, in the midst between two worlds, the temporal and eternal, and opening alternately to each, to admit from the former all that is beautiful, harmonious, and delightfal in the Word and the works of GOD, and then to convey it to the latter, viz. the mental eye and ear, where it is again seen, heard, and enjoyed, under a new form, and presently returned, with the usury of devout thanks-giving, to its SUPREME and DIVINE SOURCE? The two bodily senses, then, of seeing and hearing, may be regarded, according to this view, as the appointed means of opening and keeping open a circulation of good things from one world to another, and especially from the GREAT CREATOR to His creature man; that so man, standing in the mid-way between the two worlds, may become a partaker of the blessings of both,—and not only a partaker, but a grateful and everlasting inheritor,—under the acknowledgment that they are the perpetual gifts of his HEAVENLY FATHER, designed to effect an eternal conjunction of what is otherwise dead and miserable with the DIVINE SOURCE of life and bliss.
But we have not yet done with the bounty of an inexhaustible love; for, behold! another sense next presents itself to our consideration under the name of TASTE, and asserts its claim also to our most minute examination and boundless gratitude. Perhaps you have never, as yet, given yourself time to reflect what a treasure from the FATHER OF YOUR BEING you possess in this sense, as well as in the senses of seeing and hearing, both as to its form and its uses. It is high time then that you should be excited to such reflection, for, without it, what can you know either of GOD or yourself?
Open then your mouth and look at your tongue, which, to judge from appearance only, is nothing else but a lump of flesh, of a particular shape and colour. But are you aware, that this lump of flesh, as it appears to be, is a most extraordinary compound, consisting partly of muscle and dense cellular substance, and partly of innumerable papillæ, or so many tongues in miniature; and that in these papillæ principally resides the sense of what is commonly called taste? Are you again aware, that connected with the tongue, at its lower part, are two glands on each side, which glands are called salivary, because they secrete the saliva,—a transparent, watery, tasteless fluid, so far necessary to the sense of tasting, that all solid bodies must be more or less dissolved in it, before they can aifect the nervous papillæ that constitute the immediate organs of taste?
You are surprised, perhaps, at hearing of all these materials which enter into the composition of a particular member in your body, to which you are principally indebted for all the daily gratification resulting from what you eat and drink; but how much more would your astonishment be excited, if you would be at the pains to read all that the most able anatomists have written on the subject! And, with astonishment, how would your pious mind be led daily to the adoration of that GREAT CREATOR, Who, in His infinite mercy and wisdom, hath been pleased to supply you with such wonderful instruments, not only of bodily delight, but of bodily support and well-being; and not only of bodily support and well-being, but of mental instruction and elevation to an eternal end! For the ALMIGHTY, it is plain, in all His works, principally regards what may be called benefits or uses, and these both natural and spiritual, both temporal and eternal; and therefore it is impossible for you to make a due estimate of the immense debt you owe Him for the ORGANS OF TASTE, unless you take an attentive survey of the benefits and uses resulting from those organs. Will you allow me, then, to endeavour to assist you on this most interesting subject by calling your attention, in the first place, to the natural and temporal benefits and uses of the organs under consideration?
Here, however, I need only appeal to your own daily experience and observation, which may serve to convince you, better than a thousand volumes, how much you are indebted to the organs of taste for the beneficial services which they are continually yielding to your body. For, of course, you must long ago have been made sensible, that your body cannot live without a constant regular supply of meats and drinks for its support and nourishment. Yet without the sense of taste, how would you be enabled to distinguish its several kinds of meats and drinks, so as to discern what is salutary and what is otherwise? How, I say, could you tell the difference between what is bitter and what is sweet; between pure wine and that which is adulterated; between fresh water and putrid; or, in general, between the food which is wholesome and nutritive, and that which has a tendency to injure and impair the constitution? The ALL-WISE CREATOR then, in supplying you with the sense of taste, has been pleased to appoint a guard at the door of your earthly tabernacle—the body, to watch what would gain admission there, by examining minutely whether it be a friend or a foe, and by receiving' or rejecting it accordingly,—since without this guard you would be exposed continually to the incursion of the most mischievous and deadly intruders.
The natural and temporal benefits, then, of the bodily sense of which I am speaking, are too manifest to be dwelt upon, and therefore it will be sufficient to leave them to your own reflection, to make a proper estimate of their number, as well as of their value: and this I shall do with the more willingness, that I may be the sooner at liberty to call your attention to the infinitely more important uses, resulting from the same sense, which may be called spiritual and eternal uses.
You are, perhaps, again surprised to hear that any spiritual and eternal benefit can be derived from a sense which, in general, is regarded (if it be regarded at ail) as connected only with the body, because conducive only to the well-being of the body. But, my good Friend, I am persuaded your surprise will cease, if you will only give yourself time to reflect, that there is a certain relationship subsisting between soul and body, in consequence of the latter deriving from the former, not only its original birth, but also its continual life and support, consequently all its powers of sensation; and that, by reason of this relationship, what is true of the body, in a natural way, as an organization of matter, is true also of the soul, in a spiritual way, as an organization of spirit. For hath the body its eyes and its ears, by which it is enabled to see the various objects of this material world, and to hear the sounds proceeding from material objects? The soul, also, (as I have endeavoured to convince you in two former letters) hath its eyes and ears, adapted to the superior purpose of seeing and hearing the grander and more real objects of the spiritual and immaterial world. For the same reason, and on the same principle, the soul must be acknowledged to have its taste, since, if this be denied, we must then be compelled to assert, that there is something in the body which is not in the soul; and must thus resort to the irrational idea, that matter, by its organization, hath acquired a faculty of its own, independent of the soul from which it derives all its other faculties. I am convinced, however, that your discerning mind will not assent to this conclusion, but will rather allow to the soul its faculty of taste; and this in agreement with the general sentiment of mankind, who, in all ages, have agreed in transferring the idea of bodily taste to the mind, by talking of a taste for arts and sciences—as for music, painting, poetry, &c. Accordingly you will find that the Latin Sapio, and also the Greek and Hebrew terms, which are expressive of taste, are all applied, by the writers in those languages, to express, not only bodily taste, but also mental taste, or discernment.
But why do I waste your time in arguing a point which has been long ago decided by the highest authority? For open now your BIBLE, and you will there find that the term taste, whether used as a substantive or a verb, is frequently applied to express an affection of the mind. Thus it is written, in the 119th Psalm, verse 103, “How sweet are Thy words unto my TASTE!” and in Psalm xxxiv. 8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good;” and in Matt. xvi. 28, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death;” and in the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. vi. 4, “And have tasted of the heavenly gift;” and at verse 5, “And have tasted the good Word of GOD, and the powers of the world to come;” and in the 2d epistle of Peter, chap. ii. 3, “If so be ye have tasted that the LORD is gracious:”—in all which passages, it is plain, that tasting is used in a sense superior to that of bodily feeling, and according to that sense is expressive of mental feeling.
From this view, then, of the subject it appears manifest, that in the constitution of man there are several degrees of taste, both natural and spiritual, both sensual and intellectual; and that, in the highest degree, GOD Himself is its object, together with His HOLY WORD, and the great realities of His eternal kingdom. The organs, therefore, of bodily taste may be regarded as the basis of the organs of taste in the higher degrees of mind, and in this character may be serviceable and beneficial to those higher degrees—in like manner as every other basis is a necessary support to the superstructure of which it is the basis. For I need not inform you, that the all of the material world which we inhabit, and particularly the all of our material bodies, is but a basis, on which the spiritual principles of the higher and eternal world rest; and that, in this view, matter may be considered as adding to the completion and perfection of the works of the ALMIGHTY, since nothing can be said to be in its fulness until it comes into its ultimate, which ultimate is matter. Such an ultimate is the material body of man, and such ultimates, too, are all the organs of bodily sense; and therefore as every ultimate has its use in giving support and completion to the prior and superior principles of which it is the ultimate, we may reasonably conclude, that this is one spiritual and eternal use and benefit of the bodily organs of taste—to administer to the higher organs by adding to their stability and their fulness.
But there is yet another spiritual and eternal use, or benefit, resulting from the organs of bodily taste, and grounded more particularly in the faculty they possess of discriminating the various kinds of meats and drinks, so as to discover what is wholesome to be admitted into the body and what is unwholesome, according to what was hinted at in a former part of this letter.
Allow me then to observe, that, in the above respect, the organs of bodily taste may be, and probably were, intended of the DIVINE PROVIDENCE OF THE MOST HIGH, to operate as continual monitors to the interior and higher organs of mental taste, in regard to their office and duty, by admonishing them, that they are the appointed guards at the door of the mind, to keep watch and thus prevent the admission of any affection, thought, or purpose, which might prove injurious to mental health and activity. For need I remind you, that the mind also has its health as well as the body, and that the health of the mind consists altogether in its standing and operating in the ORDER OF GOD, which order requires, that the love and the wisdom of GOD shall be exalted above every other love and wisdom, and that every other love and wisdom shall have its place of subordination, according to its tendency to administer to and strengthen in the mind the principles of the Divine love and wisdom? I leave you to judge, then, what mischief must necessarily ensue if the organs of mental taste are off their guard, respecting the quality of the things admitted into the mind,—that is to say, into the will and its affections, or into the understanding and its thoughts; since it must be evident, that if such things have a tendency to disturb the ORDER OF GOD, they must, in that case, necessarily prove destructive of mental health, in like manner as unwholesome food, or poison, is destructive of bodily health. On the other hand, if the organs of mental taste faithfully discharge the duties pointed out to them by the lower organs of bodily taste, what blessed fruits might we not expect from their fidelity and obedience, and how would the ORDER OF GOD in the human mind not only be preserved from violation, but advanced also every day towards the fulness of its perfection and blessedness!
But there is yet a third use and benefit derived from the sense of bodily taste, which must not be forgotten, and that is—the extent and enlargement of the kingdom of the Divine goodness and blessing in the human mind and life. For what considerate person cannot discern, that every sensation of delight, whether mental or bodily, originates in the DIVINE SOURCE OF LIFE, and therefore may more properly be called the offspring of GOD than of man? Indeed, that it is not the offspring of man, or in any respect under man’s control, is demonstrable from the fact, confirmed by every day’s experience, viz. that man is utterly unable of himself to command either a lost appetite for food, or a lost relish in the use of it. We are compelled then to confess, that the daily bodily sensation of delight, resulting from the reception of meats and drinks, is a daily gift from above, intended, if rightly used, to convince us of the DIVINE BOUNTY, by the addition of another plant to oar paradisiacal garden; and at the same time, to elevate the tone of our daily praise and gratitude to the GIVER OF EVERY GOOD GIFT for this additional proof of His adorable benevolence.
But, alas! my good Friend, we live, it is to be feared, in an age when the pleasure, resulting from the exercise of the bodily organs of taste, has acquired a terrible and destructive ascendancy over the real benefits and uses, both natural and spiritual, both temporal and eternal, which they were intended to confer and yield. For how few, at this day, in that exercise, look through the pleasure to the use and benefit! How many also, by an inordinate indulgence in the pleasure, plunge both body and soul into disorder, by destroying that health of both which every bodily sense was designed to promote and secure! I should be sorry either to form or to pronounce a hasty and severe judgment on the temper and spirit of any age, or any people, but surely it is impossible not to see, that animal gratification, at this day, is the object principally regarded in the use of our meats and drinks; and that thus the organs of bodily taste—instead of opening the doors, as they were meant to do, to the higher organs of intellectual and spiritual taste, and to the higher delights which these latter organs have a tendency to produce—only shut them more closely against both the organs and their delights.
I cannot conclude my letter in a way more satisfactory to myself, or more explanatory of the subject under discussion, than by presenting you with the portraits of two of mine acquaintance; one of whom has never been accustomed to reflect on his sense of bodily taste, either as to its uses or its origin, but devours his dally food like the inferior animals which have no understanding; whilst the other has been early taught, in the school of piety and wisdom, to regard the organ of bodily taste not only as subservient to natural and temporal enjoyment, but as an ultimate basis for the support of higher orders and degrees of taste,—and thus as connected with that highest order and degree, by which man is admitted to the sublime and eternal bliss of tasting how good the LORD is, and how sweet His words are.—The first of these characters I shall introduce to you under the name of Epicurus, and the second under the name of Eusebius.
Epicurus, then, is a young man of considerable talents, and has had the advantage of what is commonly called a good education; but this advantage was confined, in a great degree, to the knowledge of Greek and Latin authors, to the utter exclusion of that higher and more important branch of instruction which relates to the regulation of the mind and temper, and to the daily conduct of life. Epicurus, therefore, was never taught to consider his eating and drinking as acts of any further importance than to please his palate and support his bodily health and strength; and accordingly, when he sits down to his daily meals, the gratification of appetite and the nourishment of the body are the principal objects of his attention and regard. Yet he never scruples to join in the ceremony of what is commonly called saying grace, both before and after dinner, and thus of supplicating, apparently at least, the DIVINE BLESSING on what he is about to eat and drink, and of returning thanks also to the DIVINE BOUNTY for the materials of eating and drinking. There is too much reason however to fear, that the good effects, intended by this ceremony, terminate, in the case of Epicurus, with the ceremony itself, since, the moment it is ended, he suffers the pleasures of taste to take into their hands the reins of government, and to banish from his thoughts every other GOD but the god of those sensualists of old, of whom it is written, “Whose God is their belly.” The unhappy consequence is such as might be expected, for by degrees the taste of bodily meat and drink gains an ascendancy over the taste of any higher order and degree, whether intellectual or spiritual, until at length no sound is so enchanting to Epicurus as that of the dinner bell, and no sight so fascinating as that of the dinner table, and no taste so gratifying as that of the palate. But, behold the danger of doing violence to the order of GOD and heaven, by suffering bodily appetites, and especially the taste for bodily food, to exalt themselves above heavenly affections, and that taste for heavenly food which the ALMIGHTY, in His mercy and wisdom, hath been pleased to implant in every human mind! For, lo! bodily distemper and pain at length usurp the place of order and its joys, and Epicurus becomes a miserable example and proof of the terrible mischief of becoming a slave to bodily gratification, instead of asserting the noble liberty, which he possessed in common with all his fellow creatures, of binding its chains, by rising to the perception and enjoyment of those higher degrees of taste, of which bodily taste is merely the basis, the figure, and ultimate manifestation.
But I am persuaded you will turn your eyes with disgust from the contemplation of this portrait of Epicurus, to relieve them by its counterpart in the beautiful form and angelic countenance of Eusebius.
For Eusebius, like Epicurus, is a young man of good natural talents, and has had the advantage also of a liberal education; yet of an education, which, though liberal, may not perhaps generally be thought fashionable, since its basis was science, but its superstructure was religion, A competent knowledge, therefore, of Greek and Latin, and of what is commonly called scholastic and academical literature, was regarded only as a secondary accomplishment, whilst the primary and supreme end, in the education of Eusebius, was the knowledge and the love of GOD; and, in connection with that knowledge and love, the knowledge of himself and of the wonderful construction, powers, and faculties of his own mind and body, that so all things and principles in himself might be restored to that heavenly order for which they were originally created. Eusebius was, accordingly, initiated by his pious parents, at an early period of his life, into the DIVINE PHILOSOPHY which teaches, that the life of man, whether it be sensitive, intellectual, or spiritual, is nothing but a stream, flowing continually from a DIVINE SOURCE; and that thus all his senses are to be regarded as so many several channels from that stream. The sense of taste therefore, in the eyes of Eusebius, was soon viewed in this sacred light, insomuch that, on every occasion of its gratification, it became instrumental, by degrees, in elevating his affections and thoughts towards its divine source, and thus of connecting both itself and him with that source. Eusebius thus was always guarded against every act of intemperance, both in eating and drinking, because these acts were always regarded by him, not only as acts of bodily refreshment and delight, but as acts of piety and gratitude towards the GIVER OF ALL GOOD. Whilst Epicurus, therefore, converted the sense of bodily taste into an instrument of his own destruction, by exalting it above every higher taste, whether intellectual or spiritual, whether temporal or eternal, it was the happiness of Eusebius, on every occasion of gratifying that taste, to render it subservient to the most blessed of all purposes, by calling every higher taste to his recollection, and thus elevating him above the husks and dregs of mere sensual delight, to feed upon the corn and wine of every rational, spiritual, and heavenly joy and blessedness. Whilst Epicurus too, in his eating and drinking, converted its delight into a carcass, by depriving it of its life and soul, in consequence of separating it from the purer delight of mental taste, Eusebius, in his daily eating and drinking, never failed to enjoy both a soul and body of delight united, and thus to give new life to the otherwise unclean carcass of sensual gratification.
Leaving you now, my good Friend, in possession of the above portraits, I shall, for the present, bid you adieu! but not without first offering up my most devout prayers to the FATHER OF MERCIES, that you may be led henceforth to reflect, as every rational being ought to do, on the sense of which I have been speaking, so as to elevate it to its true dignity, by viewing it in its DIVINE ORIGIN, and thus in connection with all the higher degrees of taste, whether intellectual or spiritual; and above all, by keeping it in such a state of subordination, that it may never either intrude upon or disturb those higher degrees, but may rather administer daily, as it was designed to do by their DIVINE PARENT, to their purity, their strength, and their perfection.
In the blessed spirit of this prayer, both for you and the rest of my fellow creatures, I remain,
My Dear Sir,
Ever yours, &c.