INTEGUMENTS. 



.cf iubcutaneous nervous fyftera.producingthefilamentswUich 

 enter the flcin. They communicate with each other in tra- 

 verfing the areola of the organ, and probably terminate on 

 the papills. In the hand, where thefe prominences are 

 very numerous and clearly marked, there are more fubcu- 

 tancous nerves, in proportion to the furface, than in any 

 other part. 



A great number of abforbing vcfTels is found under the 

 (liin ; mfomuch, indeed, that this is the moft favourable 

 iituation for inveftigating them. The veins are furrounded 

 by them, and feveral falciculi are obferved in the intervals 



• of thefe velTels ; fo that we may reprefent the (Icin and apo- 

 neurofes as being feparated, in the limbs, by a continuous 

 ftratum of thefe veficls. We mull refer the origin of many 

 of them to the coripn, from the areolae of which tliey carry 

 into the blood the fat and cellular lymph, as well as the 

 nutritive matter of its fibres. But ig there, moreover, a 

 pai-ticular order of branches opening on the epidemis, for 

 the purpofe of abforbing fubllances fi-om the furface of the 

 body under certain circumitances ? Anatomical invelliga- 

 tions do not enable us to decide this queflion direcllv : the 

 abforbing pores cannot be demonllrated : we mud therefore 

 inquire whether the phenomena of tlie cutaneous functions 

 indicate their exillence. We may obferve, previoufly, that 

 the fuperficial abforbents are very numerous, and feeiii to be 

 in greater number than would be required for abforbing the 

 contents of the cellular fubllance. 



It had long been received as an eftabliflied truth, that the 

 ■iliin is an inhaling or abforbing, as well as an exhaling organ ; 

 that though the lofs by perfpiration commonly greatly ex- 

 ceeds what the fyftem gains by abforption, yet fometimes, 

 according to the varying circumflances of external relations 

 .and conditions of the body itfelf, the inhalation balanced, 

 and even furpaflfed the exhalation. Of late this dotfriue of 

 inhalation has been called in queftion, and, in the opinion 



• of many, has been completely overthrown. 



The moft dired argument in favour of abforption from 

 the flcin, is the aftion of various fubllances upon the body, 

 when applied to this organ. This is ihewn in a particularly 

 clear view in the inllanccs of opium and mercury. Dr. Cur- 

 rie (Medical Reports, chap. 19.) conliders, that in all fuch 

 caies the article abforbed is forced through the epidermis 



■ by mechanical prefTurc ; or tliat the epidermis has been pre- 



■ vioufly dellroyed by injury or difeafe ; or if found, that the 

 article applied to it is of an acrid nature, which firft irritates 

 and erodes this tegument; and then coming into contaft 

 with the mouths of the lymphatics under it, is of courfe 



• abforbed. This explanation is quite unfatisfaftory. The 

 firm adhefion of the cuticle and cutis is well known : on the 



• fuppohtionjuft mentioned they ought to be feparated, wliich 

 is not the faft, we ought to fee the ointment under the cu- 

 ticle, which is equally untrue, and the ointment fhould pene- 

 trnte equally in the dead fubjeft, which is not the cafe. 

 However, the aftion of mercurial fumigations, where no 

 friction is employed, affords a cafe of abforption from the 

 furface of the found cuticle, wliicli cannot be denied. 



On the fame fide of the quelUon, it has been aflerted, 

 that water is taken up by the Ikin in various cafes. Many 

 inllanccs have been known of perfons at fea, with no fre(h 

 water, having their thirlt much allayed by wetting their 



■ cloths with the fait water. Haller affirms, too, on the au- 

 thority of Default, that the body acquires an increafe of 

 weight in the warm batii : " denique vapor aqux calidx in 

 manum reforbetur, et homini in balneo conftituto cutis tu- 

 rn et _et rubet, corpus pondereaugetur, fitis fedatur, et om- 

 nia figna eduntur aqu^e reforbtx et fanguini admillK." t. v. 

 p. 84. Experiments have fince beea made with every 



neceffary care, which feem to contradift tWs pofition, siv^ 

 to prove that the body acquires no additional weight in li : 

 warm bath. Seguin, from a great many experiments of this 

 defcription, concludes that there is no inhalation, bccauf"' 

 the body, fo far from gaining, always loft fome part of v. ; 

 weight during immerfion, although much lefs than in tl'- 

 air in equal times. Thus, in a bath feated from 10' to i ; ' 

 of Reaumur, the lofs of weight was to that fuftained duri^i ; 

 the fame time in air as 6.5 to 17 ; at the temperatures fri : 1 

 ij^ to iS', as 7.5 to 21.7 ; and from 26' to 28^ as i ^ ; > 

 23. La Medecine eclaircc par les Sciences Phyfiqi:.- , 

 torn. iii. 



In other experiments, again, as in thofe of Drs. Gei , 

 and Currie, there was no increafe of weight ; but ncit 

 was the body in general obferved to have fuftered any i 

 during immerfion in the warm bath. " When I was ;t 

 Buxton," fays Dr. Currie, " in 1788, I made an experi- 

 ment on the effefts of bathing on the weight of my bodv, 

 and after half an hour's immerfion, I found it rather di- 

 minilhed than increafed. This experiment had, I bcliev:, 

 been made before by Dr. Pearfon with the fame refult ; it 

 has fince been repeated with great care, and it is afe.i - 

 tained, as a faCl, that no increafe in the weight of the body 

 is produced by immerfion in water at the temperature ot 

 82'* In the year 1790, I had a patient m diabetes, whofe 

 cuticle, as is ufual in that difeafe, was in a morbid ftate ; 

 and being defirous of trying how far the inordinate aftion 

 of the kidnies might be afPcfted by a gentle ftimidus ap- 

 plied to the flvin, I immerfed him in a bath of the tempera- 

 ture of 96 \ weighing him before and after immerfion. 

 There was no fenfible variation in the weight. This expe- 

 riment has fince been made by Dr. Gerard in another cafe 

 of diabetes, an account of which is given in the publication 

 of Dr. Rollo ; and as it was repeated a great number of 

 times with the utmolt care and accuracy, it may be confidered 

 as eftabliflied, that immerfion in the warm bath in diabetes 

 produces no increafe inweiglit. I have made five different 

 experiments of the fame kind on myfelf, varying the heat of 

 the bath from 87° to 95'^ but never in any inllance found 

 my weight augmented." (Ivledical Reports, vol. i. p. 302.) 

 The doctor then details a cafe of ftridtured oefophagus, 

 where the patient gradually waited, and ultimately died of 

 inanition, although he was immerfed daily in a tepid milk 

 and water bath. 



We may obferve, concerning the fafts juft quoted, that 

 they by no means warrant a decilive negative inference. 

 We have every reafon to fuppofe that the aftion of the 

 fltiu goes not uninterruptedly in the bath, and that the pul- 

 monary exhalation proceeds as ufual. Yet the weight either 

 continued unchanged, or, if any lofs was obferved, this was 

 conllantly lefs, much lefs, than is experienced during 'the 

 fame interval in air : hence we may argue, that there muil 

 have been abforption. Dr. Currie's cafe of ilriftured oefo- 

 phagus merits further confideration : no experiment could 

 be more unfavourable for an opponent of cutaneous abforp- 

 tion. The patient, it is true, gained no weight while in the 

 warm bath, but the lofs continually going on in the air, was, 

 as in other trials, fufpended during the immcrfions. " It 

 is worthy of obfervation, that there was neither increafe nor 

 decreafe of weight in the bath ; yet Mr. M. was at this time 

 wafting twenty ounces in 24 hours, and confequently, if there 

 was no abforption in the bath, it might be fuppofed that he 

 would have loft fivc-fixths of an ounce during the hour of im- 

 merfion. It is the more remarkable that there was no decreafe, 

 becaufe in the bath the Ikin always foftened, anrl the forehead 

 became covered with a gentle moifture." Befides, " he always 

 expreffed great comfort fron» the bath, with abatement of 



ihirft," 



