CUTANEOUS. 689 



To deny cutaneous absorption altogether is impossible. It is a 

 channel, in fact, by which we introduce one of our most active reme- 

 dial agents into the system ; and it has not unfrequently happened, 

 where due caution has been omitted, that the noxious effects of different 

 mineral and other poisons have been developed by their application to 

 the surface, but it is by no means common or easy, when the cuticle 

 is sound, unless the substance employed possesses unusually penetrat- 

 ing properties. M. Chaussier found, that to kill an animal, it is suffi- 

 cient to make sulphuretted hydrogen gas act on the surface of the body, 

 taking care that none gets into the air-passages ; the researches of 

 Prof. J. K. Mitchell 1 have also shown that this gas is powerfully pene- 

 trant. Unless, however, the substances, in contact with the epidermis, 

 are of such a nature as to attack its chemical composition, there is 

 usually no extensive absorption. 



It is only of comparatively late years, that physiologists have ven- 

 tured to deny, that the water of a bath, or the moisture from a damp 

 atmosphere, is taken up under ordinary circumstances; and if, in such 

 cases, the body appears to have increased in weight, it is affirmed, and 

 with some appearance of truth, that this may be owing to diminution 

 of the cutaneous transpiration. It is, indeed, probable, that one great 

 use of the epidermis is to prevent the inconveniences to which we should 

 necessarily be liable, were such absorption easy. This is confirmed by 

 the fact, that if the skin be deprived of the epidermis, and the vessels 

 that creep on the outer surface of the true skin be thus exposed, ab- 

 sorption occurs as rapidly as elsewhere. J. Muller affirms, that saline 

 solutions applied to the corium penetrate the capillaries in a second of 

 time. To insure this result in inoculation and vaccination, the matter 

 is always placed beneath the cuticle; and, indeed, the small vessels are 

 generally slightly wounded, so that the virus gets immediately into the 

 venous blood. Yet it is proper to remark the lizard, whose skin is 

 scaly, after having lost weight by exposure to air, recovers its weight 

 and plumpness when placed in contact with water; and if the scaly 

 skin of the lizard permits such absorption, M. Edwards thinks it impos- 

 sible not to attribute this property to the cuticle of man. When the 

 epidermis is removed, and the system is affected by substances placed 

 in contact with the true skin, we have the endermic method of me- 

 dication. 



M. Se'guin 2 instituted a series of experiments to demonstrate the ab- 

 sorbent or non-absorbent action of the skin. His conclusion was, that 

 water is not absorbed, and that the epidermis is a natural obstacle to 

 the action. To discover, whether this was the case as regarded other 

 fluids, he experimented on individuals labouring under venereal affec- 

 tions, who immersed their feet and legs in a bath, composed of sixteen 

 pints of water and three drachms of corrosive chloride of mercury, for 

 an hour or two, twice a day. Thirteen, subjected to the treatment for 

 twenty-eight days, gave no signs of absorption; the fourteenth was 

 manifestly affected, but he had itchy excoriations on the legs ; and the 



1 Amer. Journal of the Med. Sciences, via. 44 ; and p. 68 of this work. 



2 Annales de Chimie, xc. 185. 



VOL. i. 44 



