Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Were we to remove a piece of skin, then to cut from its edge a very thin slice embracing the whole thickness of the skin, and were we to examine this slice with the aid of a microscope, we might observe an appearance such as that depicted in fig. 1. The skin we consider to consist of two layers—the cuticle or scarf-skin, and beneath it the true skin. The deeper part of the true skin is open in its struc- ture, containing more or less of fat. Above this it is more dense, and on the surface it is covered with little eminences called pa- pillae, which fit into corre- sponding recesses in the cuticle. The portion of the cuticle next the true skin is softer and more opaque than the outer- most layer, which consists of hard flattened scales. These, when they have fulfilled their function, are cast off from the surface of the body in the form of fine scales or dust. These two layers vary in thick- ness in different parts of the body. They are thicker and stronger on the more exposed portions, thickest on palms of the hands and on the soles of the feet. If we use the proper means for bringing into view the nerves of the skin, we find that they are very numerous. They terminate in three ways specially adapted for the reception of sensory im- Fig. 1. Vertical section through skin of finger; (t) true skin; (p) papillee of true skin; (c) cuticle or scarf-skin; (f) fat; (s) sweat glands; (d) duct of sweat gland. the