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is the organ of touch, which resides in the skin properly so called. The 

 cellular tissue which connects together all our parts, forms over the whole 

 body, a layer varying in thickness, which covers it, in every part; it is 

 called fianniculus adijwsus. As it approaches the surface, its lamina are 

 more condensed, are in more immediate contact with each other, and 

 are no longer separated by adeps. It is by the closer juxta-posidon of 

 the lamina of the cellular tissue, that the skin or dermis is formed, a 

 dense and elastic membrane, into which numerous vessels, of all kinds, 

 are distributed, and into which so great a quantity of nerves terminate, 

 that the ancients did not hesitate to consider the skin as purely nervous. 



In certain parts of the body, a very thin muscular plane separates the 

 skin from the panniculus adiposus. This kind of panniculus carnosus 

 envelopes, almost entirely, the body of some animals ; its contractions 

 wrinkle their skin covered with hairs, these rise, vibrate, and thus are 

 cleared of the dust and dirt which may have gathered on them. It is by 

 means of a cutaneous muscle? of very complex structure, that the hedge- 

 hog is enabled to coil himself up, and to present to his enemy a surface 

 studded with sharp points : only a few scattered rudiments of an analo- 

 gous structure, are to be met with in the human body ; the occipito fron- 

 talis, the corrugator supercilii, several muscles of the face, the platysma 

 moides, the palmaris cutaneous may be considered as forming part of 

 this muscle*. We may even include the cremaster, whose expanded fi- 

 bres, surrounded by the dartos, have misled some anatomists to such a 

 degree, that they have admitted the existence of a muscular texture in 

 the latter. These fibres of the cremaster, produce distinct motions, in 

 the skin of the scrotum, wrinkle it, in a transverse direction, and, at the 

 same time, bring up the testicles. The platysma myoides acts, likewise, 

 on the skin of the neck ; lastly, the occipito-frontalis, in some men, per- 

 forms so distinct a motion of the hairy scalp, as to throw off a hat, a cap, 

 or any other covering that may be on the head. One may compare to the 

 panniculus carnosus, the muscular coat of the digestive tube situated, 

 throughout its whole length, below the mucous membrane, which is 

 merely a prolongation of the skin modified and softened. 



But if, in man, the subcutaneous muscle, from its imperfect state, an- 

 swers purposes only of secondary importance, the layer of cellular adi- 

 pose substance, extended under the skin, gives to the latter its tension, its 

 whiteness, its polish, it? suppleness, favours its applying itself to tangi- 

 ble objects, and thus renders the touch ^nore delicate. Too hard or too 

 wrinkled a skin, would have applied itself in a very incomplete manner, 

 to bodies of a small size, and would not readily have accommodated itself 

 to the small irregularities of those of inconsiderable bulk. Hence the 

 pulp of the fingers, which is the seat of a more delicate touch, is furnish- 

 ed with a kind of adipose cushion supported by the nails, ready to be ap- 



* In the human body, the only muscle which bears any resemblance to the pannicu- 

 lus carnosus of animals is the platysma myoides, a muscle of the face, arising 1 below the 

 clavicles terminating at the angle of the mouth and sometimes reaching to the zy- 

 goma. As to the occipto-frontalis, also a muscle of the face, and the comigutor super- 

 cilii lying under it, (not to speak of the palmaris longus, having a strong fleshy belly, 

 with a distinct tendon, inserted into the palmar aponeurosis,) we must say, that our au, 

 thor has made an unnecessary and fruitless effort to find a resemblance, which really does 

 not exist The cvemaster is separated from the integuments of the scrotum, by a dense 

 process of the superficial fascia, and therefore CAKTKOT produce the transverse corruga- 

 tion of the scrotum. Godman. 



