SKIN, HAIR, NAILS. 217 



is very soft, and it seems to be rather a layer of 

 mucus, or slime, than a distinct lining, and, for 

 this reason, it is named the rete mucosum, or 

 mucous coat. 



It is this which gives colour to the skin, as the 

 scarf skin itself is colourless in all nations. But 

 very little of it is found beneath our own skins, 

 our colour being chiefly owing to the parts below. 

 In the Negro, it is black and plentiful ; in the na- 

 tive American, copper coloured; and in the Malays, 

 olive. 



The next layer is the true skin, or corium. 

 This is much thicker than the others, and quite 

 spongy. It is made up of a network of arteries, 

 veins, nerves, and secretory vessels. 



This is the most sensible part of our bodies, and 

 we could not bear to be touched, were it not pro- 

 tected, and its sensibility blunted, by the epider- 

 mis, or scarf skin. When a piece of this last is 

 removed and the corium exposed, the vessels im- 

 mediately secrete a thickish fluid, called lymph ; 

 into these new vessels shoot, and, in the course of 

 a few days, it is changed into proper skin. 



The surface of our bodies is, in a great measure, 

 covered with hair. In general, these hairs are 

 very delicate and small, and do not take away 

 from the smoothness of the skin. The head, how- 

 ever, is thickly clothed, and there the hair grows 

 long. 



Hair was given to mankind to serve, in some 

 sort, as a protection against the weather. 

 T 



