The object ofthis text is to examine, and elaborate on the meaning of the established premise that 'taste is a chemical sense.' In particular, the major effort is directed toward the degree to which chemical principles apply to phenomena associated with the inductive (recognition) phase of taste. A second objective is to describe the structure and properties of compounds with varying taste that allow decisions to be made with respect to the probable nature of the recognition chemistry for the different tastes, and the probable nature of the receptor(s) for those tastes. A final objective is...