In this state a strange languor is perceived, objects seem
discolored, the body bends, the eyes close, all disappears, and
the senses are in absolute repose.

When he awakes man sees that nothing around him has changed, a
secret fire ferments in his bosom, a new organ is developed. He
feels that he wishes to divide his existence.

This active unquiet and imperious sentiment is common to both
sexes. It attracts them together and unites them, and when the
germ of a new being is fecundated, the individuals can sleep in
peace.

They have fulfilled the holiest of their duties by assuring the
duration of the species. [Footnote: Buffon describes, with all the
charms of the most brilliant eloquence, the first moments of Eve's
existence. Called on to describe almost the same subject, we have
drawn but one feature. The reader will complete the picture.]

Such are the general and philosophical principles I wished to
place before my readers, to lead them naturally to the examination
of the organ of taste.

MEDITATION II.

TASTE.

DEFINITION OF TASTE.

Taste is the sense which communicates to us a knowledge of vapid