Chemical Senses

The chemical senses, smell and taste, round out our remaining senses – vision, hearing, and touch.  These last two are referred to as the chemical senses since they are initiated by small, discrete chemical compounds that reach our nose and/or our tongue.  In fact all of the taste sensations other than sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (savory) involve smelling due to the odor/taste molecules reaching the olfactory epithelium in the nose after they travel through the back of the throat.