452 ABSOKPTKXN". 



which would at first seem to show that a certain amount of 

 water is taken up by the skin when the atmosphere is un- 

 usually moist. In all of these, however, the conclusion is 

 drawn from the circumstance that the weight is occasionally 

 somewhat increased under these conditions ; but no account 

 is taken of the fact, that when the surrounding atmosphere 

 is moist, the amount of the exhalations is greatly decreased. 

 The lungs, also, present an immense absorbing surface, 

 which is not at all considered. Experiments on this point 

 are not sufficiently definite to warrant any positive conclu- 

 sions ; but it is evident that if any thing enters in this way, 

 the quantity must be excessively minute. 



The experiments upon the entrance of water and soluble 

 substances through the skin, when the body has been im- 

 mersed for a long time in a bath, are somewhat contradictory. 

 Most experimenters have noted an increase in the weight, 

 which they attribute to absorption of water, but others pro- 

 fess to have observed a slight diminution in the weight 

 of the body. 



In some experiments on this subject, by Madden, in which 

 all necessary precautions were adopted, the air being respired 

 through a tube passed out of the window of the room, so that 

 no unusual absorption of moisture could take place by the 

 lungs, the results were very conclusive. 1 In experiments of 

 this kind there are many modifying influences to be guarded 

 against. For example, it has been found to be important to 

 regulate carefully the temperature of the bath ; for when it 

 exceeds that of the body, there may be a loss of weight by 

 cutaneous transpiration. It is stated by Longet 2 that when 

 the temperature of the water is lower than that of the body, 

 there is a gain in weight ; but that the cutaneous exhalation 



1 MADDEN, An Experimental Inquiry into the Physiology of Cutaneous Ab- 

 sorption, etc., Edinburgh, 1838, p. 59 et seq. 



2 LONGET, TraiU de Physiologie, Paris, 1861, tome i., p. 296. In the work 

 of Longet will be found a very full account of the various experiments in favor 

 of, and opposed to, cutaneous absorption. 



