432 OF THE CUTICLE. 



tioned. And 3. Such pores as exist on the ends of the fingers 

 and the inside of the hands. 



It is said that these last are very visible, when magnified to 

 twice or thrice their original bulk, and drawings of them have 

 accordingly been made by Dr. Grew* and by Mr. Cruikshank.f 

 Small specks of fluid can be seen with the naked eye, in the 

 same situations, in warm weather, or when the ends of the 

 fingers are made turgid by a ligature. It is probable that they 

 are formed by the accumulation of fluid at these orifices. 



The above described pores are situated on the ridges at the 

 ends of the fingers and not in the furrows ; and it is probable 

 that similar pores are distributed over the surface of the body. 

 , Notwithstanding the appearance of these foramina, when 

 the cuticle is in its natural situation, several of the most suc- 

 cessful investigators of the subject have declared that they could 

 not discover any pores or foramina in the cuticle, when it was 

 separated from the cutis. 



The late Professor Meckel of Berlin, who was one of this 

 number, was induced to believe that the matter of exhalation, 

 and of absorption, soaked through the cuticle, as the vapor of 

 warm water passes through leather.f 



In support of this doctrine he states that perspiration goes on 

 through the cuticle on the palms of the hands and soles of the 

 feet when it is very thick ; and observes, that if it were trans- 

 mitted by delicate vessels, the vessels in the feet must be torn 

 by the weight of the body, in persons who walk ; and those in 

 the hands would experience the same fate, in laborers, who work 

 with heavy hammers, &tc. 



On the other hand, Mr. Cruikshank, who could likewise find 

 no pores in the separated cuticle, contends strenuously for their 

 existence notwithstanding ; and explains their non-appearance 

 by the following facts, among others ; viz. that no foramen will 

 appear in the separated cuticle, although it has been punctured 

 by a needle ; and that when the cuticle has been peeled off, 



* In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. iii. Lowthrop's Abridgement. 



f See his Experiments on Insensible Perspiration. 



$ See Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, vol. xiii. for 1757 . 



