THE THICK CUTIS VERA. 



421 



growing in this part of the panniculus adiposus are, for this 

 reason, extremely difficult to enucleate. 



The papillae are but imperfectly formed, and are represented 

 by an undulating line. At short intervals are the follicles of 

 the lanugo hairs, which penetrate only the superficial layers of 

 the cutis, the sweep of whose fibres would be otherwise un- 

 broken were it not for the 

 existence of a structure, 

 hitherto undescribed, 1 which 

 connects the bases of the 

 hair-follicle with those parts 

 in which we find the root of 

 the longer hairs imbedded 

 the panniculus adiposus. 

 This consists of a nearly 

 vertical cleft, or slender col- 

 umnar-shaped space, ex- 

 tending from the last-named 

 structure in a somewhat ob- 

 lique direction through the 

 deeper and middle layers of 

 the cutis, and terminating 

 at the base of the follicle 

 which rests upon it. This 

 space is occupied by adipose 



tissue in its entire length ; hence, the term " fat-columns, 

 " fat-canals," 2 would seem to be an appropriate name. 



The length of this space (in very lean individuals the fat is 

 absent, and we then see a delicate mesh-work of connective tissue, 

 and the trunk of a blood-vessel) is about 4 mm. ; its width 

 rather exceeds that of the hair-follicle above. Its long axis is 

 placed at a slight angle to that of the follicle, which in most 

 cases is nearly perpendicular to the surface, and is nearly 

 parallel to that of the erector pili muscle (b). At about the 

 middle of this axis are given off two horizontal prolongations, 

 usually partially filled with fat-tissue, appearing like a pair of 



1 In the latest treatises of the skin, no such structure is described. See Die Haut- 

 krankheiten fur Aerzte und Studirende von Dr. Gustav Behrend. Berlin, 1879; Patho- 

 logic und Therapie der Hautkrankheiten von Dr. Moriz Kaposi. Wien, 1879. 



2 Note on the Anatomy and Pathology of the Skin, by J. C. Warren. Boston Medi- 

 cal and Surgical Journal, April 19, 1877. 



" FIG. 179. Section of skin from back of an adult, 

 showing colurnna adiposa and lanugo hair. Magnified 

 about eight diameters : #, epidermis : ft, erector pili mus- 

 cle ; rf, fat column ; e, sudoriparous gland ; /, cutis vera ; g, 

 adipose tissue ; fi, hair ; A, cone fibreux ; p, lateral cleft. 



or 



