Page 171 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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and these are present in children’s upper palate, cheeks and throat, as well
as in the tongue.) 151 In short, your sense of taste was a great help in ena-
bling you to distinguish between unfamiliar nutritious and harmful sub-
stances.
Your sense of taste was also at your service throughout your adoles-
cence. It never broke down, but unfailingly identified everything you ate
and drank. With its sensitivity, you analyzed substances that might be
harmful or poisonous the moment you put them in your mouth. (Bitter is
the taste with the lowest perception threshold among the tastes.) 152 Taste
buds can detect sweetness in something even if only one part in 200 is
sweet. They can detect saltiness in one part in 400, sourness in one part in
130,000 but bitterness in as little as one part in 2 million. 153 This ability
helped you immediately spit out any potentially poisonous substances,
rather than swallowing them.
Were it not for your sense
of taste, you would have had to
live in a chemical laboratory
and carry an analysis kit around

with you in order to survive. You