

SKIBBEREEN 



work in 1844. The lighthouse is 1384 

 at the base 42, and at the top 16 feet in diameter. 

 The light, a revolving one, can be seen at a dis- 

 tance of 18$ nautical miles. The cost of erection 

 was 86,977. See A. Stevenson's Account of the 

 Skerryvore Lighthouse ( K.I in. 1848). 



Skibbereen, a market-town of the county of 

 Cork, Ireland, 54 miles SW. of Cork, at the ter- 

 minus of a branch-line, with a little trade in 

 agricultural produce. It suffered terribly during 

 the famine of 1846-^7. Pop. 3631. 



Skiddaw, a mountain (3054 ft. ) of Cumberland, 

 flanking the east side of Bassenthwaite Water, and 

 6J miles NNW. of Derwentwater and Keswick. 



Skimmer, or SCISSORS-BILL (Rhynchops), a 

 genus of long-winged sea-birds belonging to the 

 Gull family (Lartdte). Their most distinctive 

 feature is the long, thin bill with the lower half 

 longer than the upper. There are only three 

 known species, occurring respectively in Asia, 

 Africa, and America. Darwin describes the 

 American skimmers, or, as they are also called, 

 Shearwaters (R. niger), as skimming along the 

 surface of the water, generally in small nocks, 

 ploughing up small fish with their projecting 

 lower mandible, and securing them with the upper 

 half of their scissors-like bills. . See GULL. 



Skin. The skin forms a complete covering for 

 the outer surface of the body, and consists oftwo 

 distinct layers, of which the outer is termed the 

 epidermis, cuticle, or scarf-skin, and the inner the 

 corium or cutis vera. Moreover, the skin contains 

 certain structures termed 'tactile corpuscles," by 

 means of which the properties of bodies are re- 

 vealed to the sense of touch ; and associated with 

 the skin there are such accessory organs as hair, 

 nails, sebaceous glands, and sweat-glands. 



The epidermis is non-vascular, and forms a pro- 

 tective covering for the cutia vera. It varies in 

 thickness from 5 i 5 th to T ',th of an inch, being 



thickest in the 

 i a palmsof the hands 

 and soles of the 

 feet. In structure 

 it consists of cells, 

 closely adherent 

 to each other by 

 their margins, 

 and arranged in 

 many irregular 

 layers. The in- 

 dividual cells vary 

 in shape, being 

 perpendicular in 

 the deepest layer, 

 and passing by 

 various transi- 

 tions into a sur- 

 face stratum of 

 hardened flat- 

 tened cells, which 

 are constantly be- 

 ing thrown on by 



SKIN 



487 



Fig. 1. Section of Epidermis from 

 the Human Hand, highly magni- 

 fied ( Kanrier ) : 



A, horny layer, constating of a. roper- desq uamation ; 

 tlcial horny scales; b, swollen out fig. 1 shows the 

 horny cell* : c, stratum lucidnm : B, various transi 

 rete mucosum, consisting of d, prickle 

 cells ; , elongated cell* near corium ; 

 /, a nerve-fibre. 



tions. In many 

 of the cells, even 

 of white races, pig- 

 ment grannies are found, and these account for 

 the tawny colour of the skin. A section of the 

 epidermis of a Negro's leg, showing the cells 

 of the horny and mucous layers, will be found 

 at Epidermis (q.v. ). If a large portion of the 

 epidermis be removed, the process of repair is 

 low, and proceeds from the edges of the wound, 

 but recovery is quicker if any of the deeper cells of 



the layer remain. Skin-grafting aims at trans- 

 planting small portions of healthy epidermis in- 

 cluding its deeper layers to denuded surfaces, and 

 when the grafts take root the raw surface is much 

 more speedily covered because the healing process 

 spreads from each graft (see RHINOPLASTIC 

 (OPERATIONS). Nails and Hair (q.v.) are growths 

 of the epidermis. 



The cutis vera, corium, or true skin is a vascular 

 and sensitive structure, everywhere covered by tlm 

 epidermis. It rests on a layer which in most, 

 places contains fat the panniculus adiposus and 

 to this layer the corium is sometimes loosely, some- 

 times firmly, attached. In structure the true skin 

 consists of an interlacing network of white fibrous 

 tissue with a mixture of elastic fibres. On its deep 

 aspect the meshes are more open, and contain 

 lumps of fat. In this way the corium gradually 

 blends with the subcutaneous layer, and so its 

 thickness is not definite, but is generally regarded 

 as varying from Ath to Jth of an inch. Wherever 

 hairs occur bundles of muscular fibres are found. 

 The outer surface of the corium is characterised by 

 furrows, which also affect the epidermis. The 

 largest furrows are found opposite the flexures of 

 joints. Finer furrows may be seen on the backs of 

 the hands ; while on the skin of the palms and 

 soles ridges with intervening furrows form patterns 

 which are characteristic of each individual. These 

 patterns are permanent, and do not materially 

 change from infancy to adult life (Galton). The 

 latter furrows are due to the fact that the outer 

 surface of the corium is beset with small elevations 

 termed papilla (fig. 2). These are most fully 



Fig 2. Compound Papillae of Surface of Hand : 



o, base of a papilla b, 6, their separate processes. Magnified 



60 diameters. 



developed where touch is finest, and they fit into 

 correH|mnding depressions on the under surface of 

 the epidermis. The deeper layers of the corium 

 are plentifully supplied with flood-vessels, which 

 form a fine network of capillaries from which loops 

 pass into most of the papillae. Fine nerves are also 

 supplied to the corium for distribution to the 

 ' touch corpuscles ' found in certain papillae. As a 

 rule papillae with touch corpuscles have no capil- 

 lary loop, and thus we distinguish ' vascular ' and 

 ' tactile papillae. The hair-follicles also receive 

 nerves, and fine varicose nerve-fibrils pass into tia i 

 deeper layers of the epidermis. Sebaceous f/lando., 

 found wherever hairs are present, pour their secre- 

 tion into hair-follicles at a short distance from the 

 mouth, unless the hair be small, when the gland 

 may open on the surface of the skin, and the hair 

 project through its duct. Being outgrowths of the 

 hair-follicles they are accessory structures to the 

 epidermis, although the body of the gland is lodged 

 in the corium. They are specially abundant in the 

 scalp and face some of the largest being found on 

 the side of the nose. Their secretion consists of 

 the fattily degenerated and disintegrated cells 

 which line their interior (see ACNE). 



Sweat-glands are found at various depths beneath 



the corium. Each gland is a coilea-up tube, of 



which the duct is that part leading in a corkscrew 



I manner through the corium and epidermis to the 



