377 



Chapter II. 



TOUCH. >*?f«!j.'^^^ 



I HAVE already had occasion to point out the 

 structure of the integuments, considered in their 

 mechanical office of protecting the general frame 

 of the body ;* but we are now to view them in 

 their relation to the sense of touch, of which 

 they are the immediate organ. It will be recol- 

 lected that the corium forms the principal portion 

 of the skin ; that the cuticle composes the outer- 

 most layer ; and that between these there occurs 

 a thin layer of a substance, termed the rete mu- 

 cosum. The corium is constructed of an inter- 

 texture of dense and tough fibres, through which 

 a multitude of blood vessels and nerves are 

 interspersed ; but its external surface is more 

 vascular than any other part, exhibiting a fine 

 and delicate net-work of vessels ; and it is this 

 portion of the skin, termed by anatomists the 

 vascular plexus^ which is the most acutely sen- 

 sible in every point : hence, we may infer that 

 it contains the terminations of all the nervous 

 filaments distributed to this organ, and which 



* Volume i, p. 112. 



