Chap. 3. Of the Taste being Hurt.
THE Taste as other Sences, and al actions of the Body, is hurt Three waies, by being Dimini∣shed, Abolished, Depraved; it is lessened when it scarce perceiveth remiss savors and strong savors but a little: It is Abolished when it no waies perceiveth those savors whether they be great or little: It is Depraved when the object seems to be of another taste.
The Causes of Diminishing and Abolishing the taste are the same, only they differ in degrees; for if they be light and weak, they Diminish; if great, they Abolish the taste.
And these Causes are either a Defect of the Animal Spirit in the part, or a Distemper of the Third pair of Nerves which come to the Tongue; or the Tongue it self is Preternaturally affe∣cted.
The Spirits fail, either by reason of their scarcity, as in dying men; or of the obstruction of the Nerves of the Third Conjugation by which they are carried: or by reason of a Tumor bred in that part of the Head from whence those Nerves do arise.
The Tongue is either covered with a moist slimy matter, or hath Tumors, Pustuls, or Ulcers, and by these the proper action of taste may be diminished or abolished.
The Taste is Depraved when the Tongue is infected with an evil Humor, as in Feavers, when the Tongue is infected with Choller, al things tasted are thought better: otherwise if it be with salt flegm or melancholly al things appear to be salt or sowr, for the outward objects being brought to the Tongue do move the vitious juyce of it, which at that time striking upon the tongue most lea∣veth its savor thereon, and so those things which are tasted, seem to be of the same taste.
It happeneth also somtimes that the Tongue perceiveth the savors of the juyces contained in its self, although no external Object be applied, as Galen teacheth, 1. de sympt. caus. cap. 4. And it is confirmed by daily Experience in men in Feavers, whose tongue is covered with Choller; which if it be very bitter, they find a continual bitterness on the Tongue though they take nothing into their mouths.
The Diversity of the Causes aforesaid is known by the variety of the tasts and disposition of the Tongue; for a sweet taste and redness of the Tongue signifieth blood: bitterness and yellow∣ness Choller: whiteness with sweetness Flegm: blackness and sharpness Melancholly: a Nauseous taste sheweth that evil Humors are contained in the stomach: Pustuls, Tumors, and Ulcers are ma∣nifest to the Eies. And Lastly, If the taste be hurt, and there appear no change in the Tongue, you must suppose that the Cause lieth in the Brain or Nerves.
The Cure is various according to the diversity of Causes; and therefore if the Disease lie in the Brain or Nerves, you must apply Remedies thereto, especially such as use to be prescribed for the Cure of the Palzey: but when the taste is depraved by ill Humors, commonly that Symptom de∣pends upon other Diseases, especially upon Feavers, which being Cured the Symptoms also are re∣moved.
If the Taste be offended by Tumors, the Cure thereof depends upon the Cure of the Tumors above mentioned.
Finally, If it come from Pustles or Ulcers of the Tongue, you must Cure them by blood letting and Purging of sharp Humors; to which you may ad Cooling, Drying, and Binding Topicks in form of a Gargarism: And if foul Ulcers be found, let them be clensed with Honey of Roses, with a little Oyl of Sulphur or Vitriol, in such a quantity as may gently touch upon the Tongue.