OF THE HUMAN SKIN. 61 



ness, also, during disease, is much less readily 

 carried out, and we frequently have also the addi- 

 tional needed element of moisture in the fluid 

 natural and morbid products of the skin. 



How, now, do these microscopic spores get into 

 the epithelium or scarf-skin, the nails, or into the 

 hair-follicles, and the hair itself? The spores, 

 from their extreme tenuity, penetrate themselves 

 quite deeply into the cracks and fissures of the 

 epidermis and hair, and more rapidly and still 

 deeper when the filaments are formed. These 

 push, sometimes merely mechanically, into readily 

 formed cavities of the body, as in the follicles of 

 the hair, or by elevation of the epithelium. Or- 

 ganic action, however, soon taking place, the hard 

 spore presses on the soft tissue and causes resorp- 

 tion, thus enabling the spores, filaments, and 

 mycelium to penetrate the tissues of the body. 

 This is only the process of germinating we see 

 exciting such great force everywhere in nature, 

 enabling the vegetable seed to break through its 

 hard husk, and the young plant to push its roots 

 into the firm soil. The- penetration, therefore, of 

 these spores into the tissues of the body, as in the 

 case of the skin and its appendages, the hair and 



