86 EPIDERMIS. [SECT. 42. 



scrotum and of the skin of the penis., the erection of the nipple, 

 and the occurrence of the so-called goose-skin, cutis anserina. 

 This depends upon the above-described smooth muscles of the 

 skin, which, as Froriep, and afterwards Brown- Sdquard and I have 

 found, contract under the influence of electricity; for even in the 

 living subject the cutis anserina and erection of the nipple, and in 

 the bodies of executed persons a wrinkling of the scrotum, can be 

 effected by that stimulus. During the erection of the nipple by 

 means of gentle mechanical stimulation, the entire areola dimi- 

 nishes by the contraction of its circular fibres, and thus pushes for- 

 wards the nipple itself, whose fibres, in this case, appear to be . 

 relaxed. Under the influence of cold the nipple and its areola 

 contract, and both become small and hard. The cutis anserina, 

 which consists in local contractions of those parts of the skin seated 

 around the hair-follicles, by which the openings of the follicles are 

 pushed forwards conically, can be easily explained by means of the 

 muscles found by me, which extend from the superficial parts of 

 the corium downwards to the hair-follicles, and when they are in 

 activity, protrude the follicles, and draw in those parts from which 

 they take their origin. The assumption of a contractile connective 

 tissue in the skin, as also in other parts, I must, as formerly 

 [Mitiheil. der Zurcher Naturf. Gesellschaft, 1847), decidedly 

 reject, because the existence of smooth muscles, demonstrable by 

 the microscope in the skin, whose contraction under the influence 

 of galvanism can be shown by experiment, sufficiently explains all 

 the phenomena of contraction exhibited by the skin. 



With reference to the office of the touch-bodies, Meissner has, in his 

 larger work, expressed the opinion, that they are subservient to a specific 

 function, which is only met with in the hands and feet, that of the simple 

 sensation of touch. This is defined as the simple perception of an external 

 object, without the sensation of pressure ; but in a later work {Zeitsehriftf. 

 rat. Med., 1854, page 260), is designated as 'Perception of pressure by means 

 of the touch-bodies.' No one will blame the able discoverer of the touch- 

 bodies, in endeavouring to ascribe to them an important physiological func- 

 tion ; but, upon the other hand, no unprejudiced person will be induced to 

 declare the perceptions of pressure, which we experience in the palm and 

 sole (apart from their delicacy), to be different from those which we receive 

 from other nerves of the skin. 



B. EPLDEKMIS. 



§ 42. The corium is, in its entire extent, covered by a semi- 

 transparent membrane, which is destitute of vessels and nerves, 

 and composed entirely of cells — the epidermis. This is closely 



