140 THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. 



animals ; and hence it is that the hair even 

 the human hair in a state of health, appears 

 more or less oily. 



This oil for the hair appears to be furnished 

 by a multitude of little bags or glands lying 

 near its roots, somewhat resembling a bottle in 

 their shape, from the open neck of which oozes 

 the oil. 



In man, the hair of whose body is generally 

 thin, this oil is in very small quantity, and is 

 not very important to health. Those nations 

 and some such there have been and still are 

 who put on an additional quantity of oil, are 

 far from being the most healthy. In fact, if 

 the human skin is not often washed, to get rid 

 even of its natural oil, it becomes a source of 

 disease. 



PORES OF THE SKIN. Besides the mouths 

 of these little oil glands, many anatomists have 

 considered the skin, and the cuticle among the 

 rest, as pierced with little openings called 

 pores, almost innumerable. Some have reck- 

 oned them at 1,000,000 to every square inch. 

 Others, however, deny all this. But one thing 



