THE BODY TEMPLE 59 



itself to the growing form. Tlie outer skin contains 

 —besides this elastic network, and dispersed araon^ 

 its meshes— various nerves, which give to it sensibility 

 to touch, and the power of discerning differences in 

 temperature, and, most important of all, great num- 

 bers of little tubes, each a small fraction of an inch in 

 length. The lower portion of each of these tubes is 

 coiled deep down in the skin, while the upper part 

 passes obliquely to the surface. These are sweat 

 glands, of which, taken altogether, there are several 

 million in the body. 



The uses of the skin are — 



1. Protection. It is a good non-conductor of heat, 

 and so protects the sensitive tissues beneath from ordi- 

 nary changes of temperature, and by its toughness 

 shields them from harm which would otherwise result 

 from contact with objects. 



2. Respiration. The skin, like the lungs, is a breath- 

 ing organ. Frogs can breathe with their skin so ac- 

 tively that one of them has been known to live for some 

 days after its lungs had been removed. The human 

 skin is less active as a breathing organ than that of the 

 frog; but its action in this respect is quite too impor- 

 tant to be safely ignored. It is through the interfer- 

 ence with this breathing process that neglect of clean- 

 liness of the skin results in harmful effects. To allow 

 the skin to become covered with impurities is just as 

 much a choking process as constriction of the neck or 

 compression of the waist. 



3. Excretion. The skin is an organ of excretion, 

 carrying out of the body, through the sweat, a large 

 amount of impurities. This is evidenced by the fact 

 that persons who eat large quantities of salt observe 

 that the perspiration has a very saline taste, and it is 



