THE INTEGUMENT, OR tfA'AV 57 



and elastic, is without feeling, and does not bleed when cut. 

 Examine it more closely, and we observe that it is composed 

 of minute flat cells, closely compacted, and arranged layer 

 upon layer. 



3. The outer layer, the epidermis, is constantly being worn 

 out, and falls from the body in the form of very fine scales. 

 The scales are dead cells, which are loosened, either singly or 

 in groups. Sometimes large portions of the epidermis are thus 

 removed. In the scalp such portions are called dandruff. The 

 parts which roll up on the skin when it is thoroughly moist- 

 ened by perspiration or the bath are from the epidermis. The 

 " peeling " of scarlet fever comes from the same source. But 

 the epidermis does not wear out. It is constantly renewed 

 from the surface of the cutis. Here new, delicate, round cells 

 are constantly being formed, each new layer crowding its pred- 

 ecessors nearer the surface. Where the surface of the body 

 is most subject to friction, as in the palm of the hand and 

 soles of the feet, new cells form most rapidly, and consequently 

 the epidermis becomes exceptionally hard and thick. 



4. The cutis, or true skin, lies beneath the epidermis, and is 

 its origin and support. It is firm, elastic, very sensitive, and 

 is freely supplied with blood-vessels. Hence, a needle entering 

 it not only produces pain, but draws blood. It is closely 

 connected with the tissues below it, but may be separated by 

 means of a sharp instrument. The surface of the cutis is not 



1. The Renewal of the Cuticle. The skin is not a permanent sheath, 

 but is, as it were, always wearing out and rubbing off, and new skin is 

 always rising up from underneath. A snake leaves off his whole skin at 

 once, as we leave off a suit of clothes or a dress, and sometimes we may 

 find his whole cast-off covering turned inside out, just as he crept out of 

 it. In man, generally, we do not notice the dead particles of the skin as 

 it wears off ; but where the cuticle is pretty thick, as on the soles of the 

 feet, we can see it peel off in little rolls whenever we wash the feet in hot 

 water. After scarlet fever, too, sometimes the dead skin comes off in 

 great flakes, and from the hands almost like the fingers of a glove. 

 Berners. 



3. Wearing out of the cuticle ? What then ? Variety In thickness of cuticle ? How 

 accounted for? 



4. Location and office of the cutis ? What further is said of it ? Papillae? Touch? 



