ABSORPTION FROM THE SKIN. 453 



and absorption are balanced when the temperature of the 

 bath and the body are the same. There is another source 

 of complication in these observations, which has been 

 brought forward very strongly by a recent French writer, M. 

 Delore. This observer has carefully noted the increase in 

 weight of the hair, nails, and epidermis, after immersion for 

 half an hour in distilled water, and has always found it to Jbe 

 very considerable. He assumes that this is more than suffi- 

 cient to account for the increase in the weight of the en- 

 tire body after immersion in water for half an hour, which 

 amounts to about seven hundred grains. 1 



There are, nevertheless, facts which render it certain that 

 water can be absorbed by the skin. In an elaborate series of ex- 

 periments by Collard de Martigny, it was proven conclusively 

 that water could be absorbed in small quantity by the skin of 

 the palm of the hand. In one experiment, a small bell-glass 

 filled with water was applied hermetically to the palm. This 

 was connected with a tube bent in the form of a siphon, also 

 filled with water, the long branch of which was placed in a 

 vessel of mercury. After the apparatus had been applied 

 for an hour and three-quarters, the mercury was found sen- 

 sibly elevated in the tube, showing that a certain quantity 

 of the water had disappeared. 2 Recently a very extended 

 series of observations upon the absorption of water and solu- 

 ble substances has been made by Dr. "Willemin, in which it 

 is conclusively proven that water is absorbed in a bath, and 

 that various medicinal substances may be taken up by 

 the skin in this way, and can be detected afterward in the 

 urine. In a large number of experiments, he found that the 

 weight of the body, after remaining in a tepid bath for from 

 thirty to forty-five minutes, was generally stationary ; but 



1 DELORE, De I 1 Absorption des Medicaments par la Peau saine. Journal de la 

 Physiologic, Paris, 1863, tome vi., p. 274. 



2 COLLARD DE MARTIGNY, Observations et Experiences sur F Absorption Cu- 

 tanee de VEau, du Lait, et du Bouillon. Archives Generates de Medecine, Paris, 

 1821, tome xi., p. 83. 



