A normal skin has a very soft feel, imparting to the fingers a pleasant,
vital sensation. It either has color or suggests color. An abnormal skin
pleases neither the sense of seeing nor feeling. It may feel inert or it
may be inflamed.
The skin is a beautiful and complex structure. It is made up of an outer
layer called the epidermis and an inner layer, the true skin or corium,
which rests upon a subcutaneous layer, composed principally of fat and
connective tissue.
The epidermis is divided into four layers. It has no blood-vessels and
no nerves, but is nourished by lymph which escapes from the vessels
deeper in the skin. It is simply protective in nature.
The true skin is made up of two indistinct layers, which harbor a vast
multitude of nerves, blood-vessels and lymph-vessels.
In the skin there are two kinds of glands, the sebaceous and the sweat
glands. The sebaceous glands are, as a general rule, to be found in
greatest numbers on the hairiest parts of the body and are absent from
the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. They throw off a
secretion known as sebum, which is made up principally of dead cells
that have undergone fatty degeneration and of other debris.
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