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New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 7221, 17 July 1884, Page 4

In an address before the Midland lustitnte at Birmingham, on the six gateways of knowledge—meaning the six senses —Sir William Thomson spoke of the senses of smell and taste as the only two senses which could bo compared with one another. “ Von cannot say that the shape of a cube, or the roughness of a piece of loaf sugar or sandstone, is comparable with the temperature of hot water, or is. like the sound o£ a trumpet, or that the sound of a trumpet is like scarlet, or like a rocket, or like a blue-light signal. But if, anyone says, ‘ That piece of cinnamon tastes like it smells,’ I think he will express something of general experience. The smell and taste of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, apples, strawberries, and other articles of food, particularly spices, and fruits, have very marked qualities in which the tasto and smell seem essentially comparable.” In the opinion of this eminent physicist there is much reason to regard taste and smell as simply the extremes of a single sense.