32 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



which nevertheless retain both their form and their sensi- 

 tive character. 



Point out the chief differences between the skin of the 

 palm and the skin of the back of the hand. The palm is 

 covered with ridges, and crossed by conspicuous furrows ; 

 it bears no hairs. The epiderm is thick, but rendered 

 sensitive at the finger-tips by vast numbers of papillae, 

 projecting into it from the derm. The skin of the back of 

 the hand is thinner, and the creases are close-set. The 

 finger-nails are attached to this side. The veins show 

 through the thin skin. The bones come nearer to the 

 skin at the knuckles on the back of the hand than they 

 do anywhere on the palm. These differences depend 

 chiefly upon the circumstance that the palm is the grasp- 

 ing surface. When the fingers bend, the palm is con- 

 tracted and the skin wrinkled, while the back of the "hand 

 is stretched. In a child's hand there is usually much fat, 

 so that the wrinkles and creases do not show so plainly, 

 and the veins on the back often cannot be seen at all. 



On the back of each finger-tip is a nail, whose super- 

 ficial position tells us that it is part of the skin. Does it 

 belong to the epiderm or to the derm ? This may seem 

 a difficult question, but you need only notice whether the 

 nail bleeds and suffers pain when cut to find the right 

 answer. Like every part of the epiderm, the nails are 

 always growing, and always being worn away along their 

 free edges. Some dervishes in eastern countries allow the 

 thumb-nail of the right hand to grow very long. Then 

 they point it and use it as a pen. I think they must find 

 it awkward to put their right hands into their pockets, 

 but very likely dervishes have no pockets. 



Is there anything in the paw of the dog which answers 

 to the nail of man any epidermal structure which defends 

 the tip of the finger ? You will see that the dog's claw 

 is such a structure. The dog's claw can be used as a 

 weapon ; the nail of the human finger is but a poor 



