274 PERSPIRATION. 



after, innumerable blood-vessels penetrate to its external surface, 

 upon which they are shown, by minute injection, to form very 

 close and delicate networks. 



" A vast number of sebaceous follicles" or bags with a single 

 opening in their upper part and minute ramifications of blood- 

 vessels on their interior, "also are dispersed throughout it" except 

 the palms and soles, " and diffuse over the skin an oil, which is 

 very thin, limpid, does not easily dry, P " keeps the cuticle in a 

 pliable state, and preserves it from any excessive operation of 

 moisture, " is altogether distinct from the common sweat, and does 

 not possess any odoUr " except in certain parts. 



" Lastly, almost every part of the corium is beset with various 

 kinds of hairs <i, chiefly short and delicate, more or less downy, 

 and found nearly every where but on the palpebrae, penis, the 

 palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. In some parts, they 

 are long and destined for peculiar purposes ; such are the 

 capillamentum, the eye-brows, the eye-lashes, the vibrissae, 

 mustachios, beard, and the hair of the armpits and pudenda. 



" Man is, generally speaking, less hairy than most other 

 mammalia. But in this respect nations differ ; for, not to 

 mention those nations who to this day carefully pluck out their 

 beard or the hair of other parts, others appear naturally destitute 

 of hair, v. c. the Tunguses and Burats. r On the contrary, very 



" Chr. Gottl. Ludwig, De Humore cutem inungente. Lips. 1748. 4to." 



P " Lyonet, Lettre a M. Le Cat, p. 12." 



J " J. Ph. Withoff, Depilo Humano. Duisb. 1750. 4to. Compare the Com- 

 mentar. Societ. Sclent. Golfing, vol. ii. 



Tob. Baster, VerhandeL der Maatsch. te Haarlem, t. xiv. p. 382. 



(5. Asm. Rudolphi, De pttorum structura. Gryph. 1806. 4to." 



r Dr. Wells describes the singular case of a man whose hair fell off throughout 

 his body in about six weeks, without any evident cause or derangement of health, 

 and did not return, except that about two years afterwards, while labouring under 

 a suppurating tumour of the neck that discharged through several small holes, a 

 tine down appeared upon his cheeks and chin, which occasioned him to shave 

 once a week for about three months, when it disappeared. lie always looked 

 afterwards as if just shaved, and by wearing a wig would not have been noticed 

 for any peculiar appearance. ( Transactions of a Society for the Improvement of 

 Medical and Surgical Knowledge, vol. ii.) Dr. P. Frank saw a similar case. (De 

 curandis hominum morbis, t. iv. p. 124.) Another case will be found in the Edin- 

 burgh Journal of Medical Science, 1327. Morgagni mentions a man who had no 

 hairs, except a few at the root of the penis, and yet whose genitals were well de- 

 veloped (De Sedib. et Causis Morb., 1. iii. Ep. 46. ); Heister, a man who lost 

 his hair without any obvious cause for ten years. Consult Dr. Otto's Compend. 



