Treatment.—­During the acute stage there must be absolute quiet and rest with a diet that is not stimulating, one that is easily digested; ice to the head or cold cloths, counter-irritation to the spine; electricity should be used after a few weeks.  There is quite a good deal of this paralysis, and the case should receive careful attention from the start.

Taste.—­Taste-Buds.—­There are three kinds of papillae or eminences on the human tongue,—­the circumvallate, the fungiform and the filiform.  The circumvallate are from seven to twelve in number and lie near the root of the tongue, arranged in the form of a V, with its open angle turned forward.  Each one is an elevation of the mucous membrane, covered by epithelium and surrounded by a trench.  On the sides of the papillae, embedded in the epithelium, are small oval bodies called taste-buds.  These taste-buds consist of a sheath of flattened, fusiform cells, enclosing a number of spindle-like cells whose tapering ends are prolonged into a hair-like process.  As the filaments of the gustatory nerves terminate between these rod-like cells, it is probable that they are the true sensory cells of taste.

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In the human tongue taste-buds are also found in the fungiform papillae, often seem as red dots scattered over its surface; and to an area just in front of the anterior pillar of the fauces.  It is also possible that single taste-cells are scattered over the tongue, as the sense of taste exists where no taste-buds can be found.

[Illustration:  Taste Buds.]

Many so-called tastes are really smells.  This is easily proved by compressing the nostrils and attempting to distinguish by taste different articles of food.

The taste sensation is greatest when the exciting substance is at the temperature of the body.  There is no perceptible sweetness to sugar when the tongue has been dipped for a half-minute in water either at the freezing temperature or warmed to 50 degrees C. Neither is there any sense of taste until the substance is dissolved by the natural fluids of the mouth, as will be seen by wiping the tongue dry and placing sugar upon it.

The four primary taste-sensations are bitter, sweet, sour and salt.  These probably have separate centers and nerve fibers.  Sweet and sour tastes are chiefly recognized at the front and bitter and alkaline tastes at the back of the tongue.  The same substance will often excite a different sensation, according as it is placed at the front or back of the tongue.

There are also laws of contrast in taste sensations.  Certain substances will enhance the flavor of another and others will destroy it.  Again, certain tastes may disguise others without destroying them, as when an acid is covered with a sweet.