T A S
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T A U
TASTE, or Savour, a Senfation, excited in the Soul by means of the Organ of Tafie ; viz, the Papillae of the Tongue, &c. See Sensation and Tasting.
Dr. Grew, in a Lecture on the Diversity of Tafies, be- fore the Royal Society, distinguishes them into Simple and Compound.
By the former, he understands fuch as are Simple Modes of Tafie, although mingled with others in the fame ; thus the Tafie of a Pippin is Aci-dulcis $ of Rhubarb, Amara-ftringent, and therefore compounded, in both ; but yet in the Pippin the Acid is one Ample Tafie, and the Sweet another 5 as diftintt as the Bitter and Aftringent are in the Rhubarb.
Two Faults, he obferves, have here been committed : The firft, a defective enumerating of fituple Tafies, and reckoning them, indiftinttly, among fuch as are com- pounded.
Simple Tafies, of which we ufually only reckon fix or feven Sorts, are at leaft Sixteen 5 1. Sitter, as in Worm- wood ; whefe contrary is, 1. Sweet, as in Sugar. 3. Sour, as in "Vinegar ^ whofe contrary is, 4. Salt, 5. Hot, as in Cloves ; to which is opposite, 6. Cold, as in Sal Prunella 5 for we may as properly lay a cold Tafie, as an hot one, Since there are fome Bodies which do manifestly imprefs the SenSe of Cold upon the Tongue, tho* not to the Touch. 7. Aromatick 5 to which is contrary, 8. Navfeous, or malig- nant.
He thinks alfo that Tafies may be diftinguifti'd into fuch as are, 9. [oft, which are either Vappid, as in Water, Starch, Whites of Eggs, &c. or Un&u&us, as in Oils, Fat, £$c. 10. Or fuch as are hard , of which he reckons four Kinds, as, 11. Penetrant, which worketh itfelf into the Tongue with- out any Pungency ; as is found in the Root and Leaves of wild Cucumber. 12. Smpefacient, as in the Root of black Hellebore 3 which being chcw'd, and for fome time re- tain'd upon the Tongue^afFcfts that Organ with a Nurab- nefs, or Paralytic Stupor. 13. Afiringent, as in Galls: And, 14. Pungent, as in Spirit of Sal Armoniac 5 which two laft Taps he makes contrary to the Unftuous, as Penetrant and Srupefacicnt are contrary to the Vappid one.
The Compound Tafies are very numerous 5 but we have Words to exprefs but fix of them, 1. Avfiere, which is aftringent and bitter, as in the green and Soft Stones of Grapes. 2. Acerb, properly lb call'd, which is aftringent and acid, as in the Juice of unripe Grapes. 3. Acrid, which is pungent and hot. 4. Mnriatick, which is fait and pun- gent, as in common Salt. 5. JAx'mous, which is Saltnefs join'd with fome Pungency and Heat. 6. Nitrous, which is Saltnefsjoin'd with Pungency and Cold.
Taste, in a Figurative Senfe, is apply'd to the Judgment and Discernment ot the Mind. .
""We talk, and we hear Talk, every Day, of Tafie, of good Tafie, and of hadTafie; and yet without well underftanding what we mean by the Word; In Effect, a good Tafie feems to be little elfe but right Reafbn, which we otherwife ex- prefs by the Word Judgment. See Reason.-
To have a 'Tafie, is to~give Things their real Value, to be touch'd with the Good, to be JTiock'd with the 111 ; not to be dazzled with falfe Luftres 5 but, in fpight of all Colours, and of every Thing that might deceive or amufe, to judge fbundly.
Tafie and Judgment then Should be the fame Thing ; and yet 'tis eafy to difcern a TDifterence : The Judgment forms its Opinions from Rejection 5 The Reafbn, on this Occasi- on, fetches a kind of Circuit to arrive at its End: It iup- pofes Principles 5 it draws Confequences 5 and it judges 5 but not without a thorough Knowledge of the Caie : So that after it has pronoune'd, it is ready to render a Reafon of its Decrees. Good Tafie obierves none of thefe Forma- lities 5 e'er it has time to confult, it has taken its Side; As foon as ever an Objecl: is prefented it, the Impreflion is made $. the Sentiment forin'd ; ask no more of it.
As the Ear is wounded with a harfh Sound 5 as the Smell is looth'd with an agreeable Odor, before ever the Reafon have meddled with thole Objects, to judge of them 5 fo the Tafie opens itfelf at once, and prevents all Reflection.
They may come afterwards to confirm it, and difcover the fecret Realbns of its Conduct - 7 but it was not in its Power to wait for them. Frequently, it happens not to know them at all 5 and what rams ibever it ufe, cannot difcover what it was determin'd it to think as it did.
This Conduct is very different from that the Judgment obferves in its Decisions ; unlefs we chufe to fay that Good Tafie is, as it were, a firft Motion, or a kind of Inftintt of right Reafbn, which hurries us on with Rapidity, and con- duces more fecurely than all the Reafonin^s She could make.
- Tis a firft Glance of the Eye, which difcovers to us the
Nature and Relations of Things in a Moment.
In Effect, Tap and Judgment are one and the fame Thing, one and the fame Difpofition, and Habitude of the Soul, which we call by different Names, according to the different Manners wherein it ads; When it a&s by Senfation,
by the firft topreffion of Objcas, we call it Tafie.; and when byRealomng, after having examin'd the Thing by all th< Rules of Art, & c we call it Judgment: So that one may &y > Tap is the Judgment ot Kature, and Judgment the Tafie of Reafon. See Judgment.
. Good r *^ s defi r n ' d r b y Ma <*- Scudery, and Mad. 2^Vr, m an exprefs Ireatife of the Corruption of Tafie is a Har- mony between the Mind and Reafon 5 and a Won has more or leis of this Tafie, as that Harmony is more or leis juft.
One might perhaps improve on this Idea ; and fay, that Good Tafie is nothing elfe but a certain Relation between the Mind, and the Objects prefented to it.
A right Reafon cannot but be mov'd and affeaed with Things conformable thereto, and wounded by thole contra- ry : There is, then, a kind of Sympathy which unites them as fbon as ever they meet 5 and their Union, their good Un- derftanding, difcover each other. Make a fine DiScourle ; ufe only thericheft and nobleft Expreflions 5 if they contain an unhappy Thought, or ah incoherent Reafoning • that Thought, this Reafoning, will immediately be felt by a Perfon of Tafie : The Antipathy Shews itfelf by a Move- ment of Averfion, as fudden, as lively, and as natural, as that which Nature infpires us withal for Toads or Spi- ders. See Beauty/.
TASTING, the Senfe whereby we diftinguifh Savours ; or the Perception the Soul has of external Objetts, by means of the Organ of Tafie. See Sense and Taste.
Authors have differ'd much as to the Organ of Tafiing. Sauhin, Bartholin, Vejlwgim, &c. place it in the laxer fleShy Parts of the Tongue : Dr. Wharton in the Gland at the Root of the Tongue ; Laitrentius, in the thin Tunic covering the Tongue 5 others in the Palate, $$c. But the great Malpighi, and, after him, all the latelt Writers, place it in the Papilla, chiefly lying about the Tip and Sides of the Tongue. See Tongue.
Thefe Papilla: arife from the Corpus Nervofum that covers the mufcular Flefh of the Tongue 5 whence, pafTing thro' the Corpus Reticulare, they Stand up under the exter- nal Membrane of the Tongue, erect, cover 'd with Vagina;, or Sheaths of the faid Membrane, to defend them from Ob- jects too violent. See Papilla.
Thefe Vagina; are porous 5 and flick out fo far, that when the Aliment is lqueez'd, they enter within the fame, to re- ceive the Objett, or the Matter of Tafie.
Thefe Papilla;, Soerhaave conjectures, to ariSe from the ninth Pair of Nerves: And thefe he atTerts, are the only Organ of Tafie : Thofe others of the Tongue, Palate, Jaws, {$c. he obferves, contribute nothing thereto, tho' probably thofe of the Cheeks, next the Dentes Molares, may. See Fapill-te, Palate, ££?c.
The Objecl of Tafiing, is any Thing either in Animals, Vegetables, or Minerals, from "which Salt or Oil may be extracted. See Salt.
Tafiing, then, is perform'd by the Objects being attenu- ated, and mix'd with Saliva, warm'd in the Mouth, and apply'd to the Tongue 5 where, insinuating into the Pores of the membranous Vagina: of the nervous Papilla;, and pene- trating to the Surface of the Papilla; themfelves, it affetts and moves them ; by which Means a Motion is commu- nicated along the Capillament of the Nerve to the common Senfbry, and an Idea excited in the Mind, of Salt, Acid, Sweet, Bitter, Hot, Aromatic, Auftere, or the like ^ accord- ing to the Figure of the Particles that ftrike the Papilla;, or the Difpofition of the Papilla: to receive the Impulfe. See Sensation.
TATIANJTES, a Sefl of ancient Hereticks - thus call'd from Tatidn, a Difciple of Jufiin Martyr.
This Tatian, who has the Character of one of the moft learned Men of all Antiquity, was perfectly Orthodox dur- ing the Life of his Mafter. He was, like him, a Samaritan., by Nation, not by Religion, as Epiphanius feems to insinu- ate. They both bclong'd to thofe Greek Colonies ipread throughout the Country of the Samaritans.
Jufiin being dead, Tatian gave into the Errors of the Va~ lentiniaMS ; and form'd a Sett call'd Sometimes TatiantteSy and fometimes Encratim. See Encratites.
TATH, in old Law, a Privilege which fome Lords of a Manor have, of having their Tenants Sheep folded at Night upon their own Ground.
TAT-too, q. d. tap-to, a Beat of u Drum, at Night, to advertife the Soldiers to repair to their Qu?rters in a Garri- fon, or to their Tents in a Camp. See Drum.
TAU, in our ancient Cuftoms, Signifies a Crofs : — Tra- dendo diHo Comiti Thau eboreuw. So Mr, Selden, in his Notes upon Eadmerus, p. 1$$. Ego Eaigifa freedi&i Regis Ava hoc opus egregium Orucis Tau/nate confolidavi. See Mon. 3. Tom. pag. 121.
Tau, or Taw, in Heraldry, an Ordinary, in Figure of a T. fuppos'd to reprefent a Crofs potence, the top Part cut oft. It is thus call'd from the Name of the T, tau. See t.
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TAUGHT,
