120 OP PERSPIRATION. 



destruction, and reproduced more easily than any other 

 of the similar parts. 



178. It is completely sui generis, somewhat like a 

 horny lamella, and adheres to the subjacent coriuni by 

 the intervention of a mucus, and by numerous very 

 delicate fibrils which penetrate the latter.* 



The pores which Leuwenhoek imagined in it, do not 

 exist; but it allows a very ready passage to caloric, car- 

 bon, hydrogen, and to matters immediately composed 

 of these, v. c. oil. 



179. The importance of the cuticle to organised sys- 

 tems, is demonstrated by its universality in the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms, and by its being distinctly ob- 

 servable in the embryo from the third month at latest 

 after conception. 



180. The inner part of the cuticle is lined by a fine 

 mucous membrane, denominated from the opinion of its 

 discoverer, reticulmn Malpighianum, and by means of 

 which chiefly the cuticle is united more firmly to the 

 corium.-f- 



Its nature is* mucous, it is very soluble, and, being- 

 thicker in Ethiopians, may be completely separated in 

 them from both the corium and cuticle, and made to 

 appear as a true distinct membrane.;]: (B) 



* W. Hunter, Mcd. Observations and Inquiries, vol. ii. p. ;V2 sq. tab. i. 

 fig. 1 , 2. The conjecture of this eminent man, that the fibrils excrete the per- 

 spirable matter, is, I think, improbable. 



f- Hence I have found the Epidermis of Albinos separate easily by the heat 

 of the sun ; whereas in negroes, it scarcely does so on the application of a 

 blister. C. F. Mitchell, 1. c. p. 108. 



J B. S. Albinus, De sedc ff causa coloris tnthinpittm et ctrteror. hominum. 

 Lugd. Batiiv. 1737. 4to. fig. 1. 



Sam. Th. Soemnicrring, Ulcr die fiiirperl. Vcrschiedenh. des Negers vont 

 Europiicr. Ed. 2. p. 46, sc|, 



Sonic 



