316 PRACTICAL HISTOLOGY. [XXIX. 



papillae, and also dips down into the furrows between adjoining 

 rows of papillae, so that the surface of the skin is smooth, although 

 the arrangement of the papillae is readily detected by the lines on 

 the palmar aspect of the hand and foot. The fibrous tissue of the 

 cutis, next the epidermis, forms a very thin modified layer with 

 scarcely any fibrils and no corpuscles. This layer acts the part of 

 a basement membrane, and is continuous with the basement 

 membrane of a sweat-gland. In the dermis, the bundles of white 

 fibres interweave with each other, and form a dense tissue ; at the 

 lower part of the skin it becomes more open in texture, and gradu- 

 ally passes into the subcutaneous tissue. Elastic fibres in the form 

 of networks exist in large numbers in the cutis ; they are finer in 

 the papillae, and coarser lower down. 



The subcutaneous tissue consists of a complex system of 

 trabeculae of fibrous tissue, and in some of the meshes are lobules 

 of fatty tissue forming a fatty layer, constituting the stratum 

 adiposum. 



The arrangement of the Hood-vessels is stated at p. 325. There 

 are also numerous lymphatics and nerves some of the latter with 

 peculiar terminations glands (sweat and sebaceous), and, in some 

 situations, hairs with their hair-foil ides. 



It is important to distinguish between the hairy skin and the 

 parts of the skin without hairs. The non-liairy parts are the volar 

 surfaces of the hands, feet, fingers, and toes, nails, lips, mammary 

 papillae, certain parts of the external genitals, and the inner part of 

 the external auditory meatus. The hairy parts are the remainder 

 of the skin. The non-hairy parts are concerned with direct tactile 

 sensations, the hairy parts with indirect tactile sensations, the hairs 

 themselves being the chief tactile organs (Blaschko 1 ). This 

 observer has shown that the epidermis projects into the cutis vera 

 in the form of septa, varying in form and distribution in different 

 parts of the skin (p. 325). 



Methods. Tlie skin must be prepared in various ways according 

 to the particular part which it is desired to study. For a general 

 view proceed as follow : (a.) Procure a fresh portion of human 

 skin from the palm of the hand or sole of the foot, cut it into 

 pieces about i cm. square, and remove most of the subcutaneous fat ; 

 pin it, epithelial surface downwards, on a piece of cork, and harden 

 it in absolute alcohol (12 hours). Renew the alcohol for another 

 twenty-four hours. Sections may be cut by freezing, and then 

 stained with hsematoxylin or picro-carmine (the latter to be mounted 

 in Farrant's solution). Better still, stain the whole "in bulk " in 

 borax carmine or haematem, and embed and cut it in paraffin. 



1 Arckivf. mik. Anat., xxx. p. 495. 



