OF THE EXT EHNAI SENSES. 265

arguments they eftablifli an opinion which, in wordsindeed, is diametrically oppofite to the moll ob-vious judgments of mankind, but which in realityis perfectly agreeable to thofe judgments.

Of the Senfe of T A S TIN G>

When we tafte any folid or liquid fubftance,we have always two diftin£t perceptions; firft,that of the folid or liquid body, which is natural-ly felt as preffing upon, and therefore as exter-nal to, and independent of, the organ which feelsit; and fecondly, that of the particular tafte, re-lifh, or favour which it excites in the palate ororgan ofTafting, and which is naturally felt, notas prefling upon, as external to, or as independentof, that organ; but as altogether in the organ ,and nowhere but in the organ, or in the princi-ple of perception which feels in that organ. Whenwe fay that the food which we eat has an agree-able or difagreeable tafte in every part of it, we donot thereby mean that it has the feeling or fenfa-tion of tafte in any part of it, but that in everypart of it, it has the power of exciting that feel-ing or fenfation in our palates. Though in thiscafe we denote by the fame word (in the famemanner, and for the fame reafon, as in the cafeof heat and cold) both the fenfation and thepower of exciting that fenfation, this ambiguityof language milleads the natural judgments of