England, butter is not salted and its delicate taste is enjoyed; in America, salt is added to preserve it, and most people have come to prefer the strong taste of salty butter to the delicate taste of pure butter, and do not like it unless its true taste is partly hidden by the taste of salt (Exp. 9).
Deceiving the Sense of Taste.—The habit of using narcotics like tea and coffee is usually begun by concealing the repulsive bitter taste of the substance by mixing sugar, cream, and other agreeable things with it. Licorice is sometimes mixed with tobacco to weaken its biting taste. Pure alcohol would never be drunk by any one who had the least respect for the sense of taste, but the agreeable flavor of grapes, apples, and other fruit which still remains in wine, cider, and brandy, conceals the repulsive taste of the alcohol. Beer has the insipid taste of grain which has undergone decomposition or partial rotting, and hops are added because the strong bitter taste of hops is needed to hide the stale, rancid taste of the rotted grain. Eggnog is made of eggs, a nourishing food; sugar, which has an agreeable taste; water, a refreshing drink, and alcohol, a fiery poison. A very good eggnog is often made without alcohol, but a good one could hardly be made with any of the pleasant ingredients left out. The best eggnog is made by using the fresh juice of lemon, orange, or grape, instead of alcohol.
Effect of Narcotics.—Tobacco, alcohol, opium, and other narcotics dull the senses of taste and smell and prevent the enjoyment of delicate flavors. They accomplish this as much by their effect upon the brain as upon the nerves themselves.
It is Wrong to eat Food that is not Relished.—Unpalatable food is not likely to be well digested. It is a law of the body that the food which is enjoyed the most is digested the best. This applies to a hungry person eating food with its own honest taste, not to food disguised by the taste of something else. The rule does not apply to a taste perverted by having been forced to become accustomed to poisonous things. People who munch their food slowly enjoy the pleasures of taste the most, and digest their food the best. The nerves of taste and smell easily become fatigued. The first whiff from a cologne bottle is the strongest. Highly flavored foods should be eaten moderately, if we would obtain the greatest enjoyment from them.
Thought Questions.—1. Interfering with the Body. What is the natural direction of growth of the big toe? 2. Think of six evil results, direct or indirect, which will follow from displacing it by tight shoes (p. 48). 3. Which part of the spinal column, designed in infinite wisdom to be most flexible, do some people try to make the most inflexible? 4. The mobility of the false and floating ribs was
