254 THE HUMAN SKIN. 



as well as between all his fellows, and clasps them into one. He 

 has the rest not only in his arms, but in his legs, his loins, and his 

 head. In short, he is all-embracing. 



The skin is a threefold or fourfold clothing to the surface of the 

 body; its layers firmly connected to each other, and consisting of 

 the superficial layer or cuticle, also called the scarf-skin — that of 

 which we see the polish on our hands and faces ; secondly, a deeper 

 layer, the Rete Mucosum, in which the coloring matter of the skin 

 resides ; and thirdly, the Corium, Cutis, or true skin, which itself 

 comprises two layers; viz., a sensitive sheet of papillae or minute 

 eminences whose summits look surfacewards; and a firm texture of 

 fibres underneath, supporting the papilla and the other layers of the 



We will now reverse the order, and regard these skins in detail, 

 contemplating each by the light of its function, and we may assure 

 the reader at the beginning, that he is already acquainted intuitively 

 with the main offices of the skin, and only requires to connect them 

 to their anatomy, in order to gain a memorable knowledge of the 

 present subject. 



Underneath the skin, the exterior of the body is muscular and 

 active, with considerable unevenness between the parts, some of the 

 muscles being very prominent ; and to meet the irregularity, and 

 also to afford an unguent for comfortable motion, the surface is 

 padded with fat, which reduces it to a level, and rounds it into 

 convenient beauty, smoothing the harshness of the firm flesh, and 

 gently cushioning and combining its decisive actions. 



But the fat alone could by no means repress the starting muscles, 

 or define the voluntary movements. The will would run out of the 

 leaky vessel before it reached its jets in the hands and feet, if the 

 good easy fat were the only hindrance. Our fat then requires to be 

 bounded by a ring of sterner powers. This second provision is the 

 deep layer placed immediately upon the fat, of the corium, leather, 

 or true skin. The corium is adapted to contain the inner parts and 

 functions. It consists of meshes of fibres inextricably felted toge- 

 ther. These are of many kinds and many purposes. The greater 

 part are tendinous, some muscular, some nervous, with all interme- 

 diate stages of nature ; indeed they comprise the entire scale of 



