sect. 36.] cutis. 77 



filled with fat; whilst in the fascia superficialis, and in the corinm, 

 their connection is very intimate, particularly in the latter, 

 where they form a very compact tissue, with traces of stra- 

 tification. — In the papilla*, and at the surface of the corium in 

 general, the fibrous structure is not very evident; and in place of 

 it there often appears a more homogeneous tissue, which seems to 

 be limited towards the epidermis by a structureless basement 

 membrane. 



The bursce mucosa subcutanece are nothing but large, simple, or 

 partially divided cavities in the subcutaneous cellular tissue, in the 

 fascia superficialis (bursa olecrani), or between the laminae of the 

 fascia muscularis (bursa patelhe). Their internal walls, smooth 

 but uneven, are composed of ordinary connective tissue, without 

 an epithelium, and enclose a somewhat viscid, clear fluid. 



The elastic tissue is to be found in almost all parts of the cutis 

 in great abundance, yet, for the most part, much more sparingly 

 than the connective tissue. Sometimes it appears in the form of 

 genuine elastic membranes, which may even present a resemblance 

 to the most compact elastic networks of the arteries, as in the 

 fascia superjicialis of the abdomen and thigh; but more usually 

 it assumes the shape of a more open network of coarser or finer 

 fibres, as in the corium proper. The papillce and panniculus adi- 

 posus possess only fine fibres, and isolated or anastomosing plasm- 

 cells, although the latter tissue may, in parts, be entirely destitute 

 of them. 



Smooth muscles, according to my researches, occur more exten- 

 sively in the skin than has hitherto been supposed, viz., 1. in the 

 subcutaneous cellular tissue of the scrotum, which owes its name 

 (tunica dartos) to this circumstance; in that of the penis, together 

 with the prepuce and anterior part of the perinaeum, where, as 

 yellow bundles (whose elements have been described in § 29), 

 measuring \ or even \ a line, they run partly in the neighbourhood 

 of vessels and nerves, partly more isolated in the conueetive tissue. 

 All these bundles are united with one another, so as to form a 

 network, and, for the most part, run parallel to the raphe of the 

 scrotum and the long axis of the penis, although, and especially in 

 the latter, thick bundles not unfrequently occur, having a trans- 

 verse direction. 



2. In the areola of the nipple, the smooth muscles, which are 

 more developed in the female sex, are arranged in a circular layer, 

 in which they become more pronounced from without inwards, as 

 far as the base of the nipple; and from the breadth of their 



