LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 41 
To see the capillary plexus of the papillae it consequently becomes 
necessary to examine the injected skin by means of a vertical 
section; but if the horizontal rete is to be observed, no section is 
needed. After a certain extent, of course, the intermediate vessels 
unite to form the veins, by which the blood circulated in the skin 
returns to the system. 
The lymphatic vessels probably form in the superficial stratum of 
the derma a plexus, the meshes of which are interwoven with those 
of the capillary and nervous plexi. 
The nerves of the derma, after entering the areola of the deeper 
part of the corium, divide into minute fasciculi, which form a 
terminal plexus in its upper stratum. This terminal plexus corre¬ 
sponds with the vascular rete, and from it are given off the nerve- 
fibres which enter the papillae and terminate in the axile cor¬ 
puscles. As already stated, nerve-fibres are chiefly found in the 
non-vascular nervous papillae, and are constantly associated with 
the axile corpuscle, the corpusculum tactus. 
The nerves of the derma, previous to reaching the base of the 
corium, and while yet imbedded in the subcutaneous areolar tissue, 
are remarkable for the presence on their smaller twigs of minute, 
oval-shaped, glistening bodies, called Paccinian corpuscles, which, 
according to Mr. Huxley, are analogous to the axile corpuscles, and 
are nothing more than thickened processes of the neurilemma of 
the nerve; they are found in the greatest numbers in the most 
sensitive parts of the skin, and notably in parts where a special tact 
is resident; we are therefore led to the conclusion that they perform 
an important part in the sense of touch, therefore we find them in 
the greatest numbers in the fingers and feet of man and the lips of 
animals ; and as the long hairs on the lips of animals rise from these 
bodies, they act as feelers. 
The epidermis, or cuticle, is a membrane of defence, spread out 
upon the surface of the derma. It presents a difference of density 
according as it is viewed from its outer or inner surfaces; the outer 
or free surface being dense and horny, the inner or attached being 
soft, and composed of cells. Moreover, the epidermis is lami¬ 
nated in its structure, and the laminae present a progressively 
increasing density as they advance from the inner to the outer 
surface. For as the external surface is constantly subjected to 
destruction by attrition and chemical action, so the membrane is 
continually reproduced on its internal surface, new layers being 
successively formed upon the derma to take the place of the old. 
The various colours of skin to be seen in different animals is 
due to the presence of pigment-granules in the cells of the 
epidermis. The sudoriparous glands are situated in the middle 
and deeper stratum of the corium, and also in the subcutaneous 
cellular tissue; they are small, round, or oblong bodies, of a 
reddish-yellow colour, and composed of the convolutions of a 
minute tube, which commences by a csecal extremity, and after 
quitting the gland mounts to the surface of the epidermis and 
VOL. XLII. 4 
