n 
228 SKIN. 
sible, lying under the cuticle, and received into 
its depressions; and wherever the skin is most 
sensible, these papille are found most numerous 
and extensive. ‘The cutis, like the cuticle, is 
perforated by numerous openings, which are the 
exhalent and inhalent orifices,—and by the ducts 
of its sebaceous glands, which are in greater 
plenty in some parts than in others, as in the 
nose and ears, as well as in parts subjected to 
friction.” 
The panniculus carnosus or fleshy panicle is a 
remarkable muscular expansion, extending be- 
neath a great part of the skin of horses and 
other quadrupeds, and serving, in many respects, 
as a compensation for the want of hands. “It 
enables them to corrugate the skin, and thus to 
shake off dust, prevent the attack of noxious 
insects, and perform other purposes necessary 
for their ease and convenience. In different 
tribes, it has different attachments; and conse- 
quently its action and powers become varied 
also. In the horse and all the mammalia, with 
short hair, it is, by the extent of its attachments, 
capable of very powerful and diffused operations. 
Its centres are usually muscular, and its terminal 
attachments often aponeurotic, ending sometimes 
into other muscles or their fascias; by which, as 
either or any of these become the fixed point or 
points, the action of the whole may be changed 
at pleasure either partially or totally.” It is 
everywhere very plentifully supplied with nerves, 
and is traversed by some which ascend through 
it to the skin; it is likewise well supplied with 
blood-vessels from the intercostals and neigh- 
bouring parts; and it has therefore much irrita- 
bility and comparatively great vital power,—and 
may be supposed to assist the skin in bracing the 
portion of the frame which it covers, and pro- 
bably to aid also in strengthening the muscles 
which are situated below. 
“The skin, while the animal is alive,” says 
Youatt, with special reference to the horse, “is 
one of the most elastic bodies with which we are 
acquainted. It not only perfectly adapts itself 
to the slow growth or decrease of the body, and 
appears equally to fit, whether the horse is in 
the plumpest condition or reduced to a skeleton; 
but, when a portion of it is distended to an ex- 
traordinary degree, in the most powerful action 
of the muscles, it, in a moment, again contracts 
to its usual dimensions. It is principally in- 
debted for this elasticity to almost innumerable 
minute glands which pour out an oily fluid that 
softens and supples it. When the horse is in 
health, and every organ discharges its proper 
functions, a certain quantity of this unctuous 
matter is spread over the surface of the skin, 
and is contained in all the pores that penetrate 
its substance, and the skin becomes pliable, easily 
raised from the texture beneath, and presenting 
that peculiar yielding softness and elasticity 
which experience has ‘proved to be the best 
proofs of the condition, or, in other words, the 
SKIRRET. 
general health of the animal. Then, too, from 
the oiliness and softness of the skin, the hair lies 
in its natural and proper direction, and is smooth 
and glossy. When the system is deranged, and 
especially the digestive system, and the vessels 
concerned in the nourishment of the animal 
feebly act, those of the skin evidently sym- 
pathize. This oily secretion is no more thrown 
out; the skin loses its pliancy; it seems to cling 
to the animal, and we have that peculiar appear- 
ance which we call hide-bound. This, however, 
requires attentive consideration. We observe a 
horse in the summer. We find him with a thin 
smooth glossy coat, and his extremities clean 
and free almost from a single rough or misplaced 
hair. We meet with him again towards the 
winter, when the thermometer has fallen almost 
or quite to the freezing point, and we scarcely 
recognise him in his thick, rough, coarse, colour- 
less coat, and his legs enveloped in long shaggy 
hair. The health of the horse is, to a certain 
degree, deranged. He is dull, languid, easily 
fatigued. He will break into a sweat with the 
slightest exertion, and it is almost impossible 
thoroughly to dry him. He may perhaps feed 
as well as usual, although that will not generally 
be the case, but he is not equal to the demands 
which we are compelled to make upon him. This 
process goes on for an uncertain time, depending 
on the constitution of the animal, until nature 
has effected a change, and then he once more 
rallies. Buta great alteration has taken place 
in him—the hair has lost its soft and glossy 
character, and is become dry and staring. The 
skin ceases to secrete that peculiar unctuous 
matter which kept it soft and flexible, and be- 
comes dry and scaly; and the exhalents on the 
surface, having become relaxed, are frequently 
pouring out a profuse perspiration, without any 
apparent adequate cause for it. So passes the 
approach to winter, and the owner complains 
sadly of the appearance of his steed, and, accord- 
ing to the old custom, gives him plenty of cordial 
balls,—perhaps too many of them,—on the whole 
not being unserviceable at this critical period, 
yet not productive of a great deal of good. At 
length the animal rallies of himself, and although 
not so strong and full of spirits as he ought to 
be, is hardier and more lively than he was, and 
able to struggle with the cold of the coming 
winter. What a desideratum in the manage- 
ment of the horse would be a course of treatment 
that would render all this unnecessary? ‘This 
desideratum has been found—a free escape of 
perspiration, a moist and softened state of the 
skin, an evident increase of health and capability 
of enduring fatigue, and working on shorter 
supply of food than he could before. This is 
said to be performed by the clipping and singe- 
ing systems.” 
SKIRRET, —botanically Stum Sisarum. A 
hardy, tuberous-rooted, culinary plant, of the 
umbelliferous order. It is a native of China, 
