Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-01-19
MEDICAL.
Perspirafion, Inseasible and Sensible
From Dr.. Combe, on Health e. Mental Education

Besides performing the mechanical office
Of u shield to the parts beneath, the skin is
admirably fitted, by the great supply OF
blood which it receives, for rs use as sc.
creting and excreting organ. The whole
animal system is in state of constant de.
cay and renovation; and while the stomach
and alimentary canal take In new materials,
the skin forms one of the principal outlets
or channels by which the old, altered, or
useless particles arc eliminated from the
body. Every one knows that the skin per-
spires, and that checked perspiration is a
powerful cause of disease and of death; but
few have any just notion of the real extent
and influence Of this cxhalation, such as we
shall attempt to exhibit it. When the body
is oysrheated by exercise in warm weather,
copious sweat soon breaks out, which, by
carrying off the superfuous heat, produces
an agreeable feeling Of GOODNESS and refresh
ment. This is the higher and more obvious
degree of the function of exhalation; but,
in the ordinary state, the skin is constantly
giving out large quantity of waste materi-
ais by what is called iusensi6le perspiratlon,
a process which is of great Importance to
the preservation of health, and which is call
cd insensible, because the exhalatlon, being
in the form of vapor, and carried OFT by the
surrounding air, is invisible to the eye; but
its presence may often be made manifest ev-
en- to sight by the near approach OF a dry
cool mirror, on the surface of which it will
soon be condensed so as to become visible.
Many attempts have been made to estl-
mate accurately the amount of cxhalatIon
carried off through the skin; but SO many
difficulties stand i'll the way OF obtaining
precise results, and the difference IN differ
ent constitutions and even in the salnc per-
son at different times is so great, that VIC
ras.st be satisfied with IAN approximation to
the truth. Sanctorious, who carefully
weighed himself, his food, and his excre-
ions, in balance, every day tor thirty
years, came to the conclusion that 're out
of every eight pounds OF substance taken
into the system passed out of it again by
the skin, leaving only three to pass OFT by
the bowels, the lungs, and the kidneys. Inc
celebrated Luvo;sier and NJ. Seguln alter
ward entered on the same field OF inquiry
and with greater Success, as they were the
first to distinguish between the cutaneous
and pulmonary exhalations. NJ. Segun
shut himself up in bag of glazed tattetas,
which was tied over his head and provided
with a.holo, the edges Of which were glued
to his lips with mixture of turpentlne and
pitch, so that the pulmonary exhalat'oh
MIGHT be thrown outwards, and the cutane-
Gus alone be retained in the bag. lie FIRST
weighed himself and the bag in very nice
balance, at the beginning of the experiment;
then at the end of If, when he had become
lighter in proportion to the quantity OF exha-
lation thrown out by breathing; and, lastly,
he weighed himself out Of the bag, to as
certain how much weight he had lost in all
and by subtracting the loss occasloned by
the lungs, the remainder OF course ex'
hibited the amount carried Oft by the SKIN,
He attended minutely also to the collateral
circumstances of diet, temperature, &c.
and allowance being made for these, the re-
suits at which he arrived were the following
The largest quantity Of insenslble per-
spiration from the lungs and skin together
amounted to thirty-two grains per minute
three ounces and quarter per hour;
or five pounds per day. OF this the cuta.
neous constituted two.thirds, or sixty ounces
in twenty.four hours. The smallest quaint.
tv observed amounted to eleven grains pc,
minute, or one pound eleven and a hal
ounces in twenty.four hours, OF which th'
skin furnished about twenty ounces: NJ
medium or average amount was eighteci
grains n,iuute, of which eleven were IRON
the skin, making in twenty -four hours abou
ttirty-three ounces. When the extent o
surface which the skin presents is CONSIDER
cd, these results do not seem extraVasant
But even admitting that there may be SOM
unperceived source Of fallacy in the expert
ments, and that the quantity is not so grea
as is here stated, still, after making ever,
allowance, enough remains to demonstrate
that exhalation is a very important function
of the skin. And although the precise a
mount of perspiration may be disputed, st
the greater number of observers agree tha
the cu,aneous exhalation is more abundan
than the united excretions of both bowel
and kidneys:* and that, according as tn
weather becomes warmer or colder, IN
skin and kidneys alternate in the propol
tons of work which they severally perform
most passing off by the skin in warm wea
.ther, and by the kidneys in cold, and vic
csrsa. The quantity exhaled increases al
ter meals, during sleep, in dry warm weatf
er, and by friction or whatever stimulate
the skin; and dimnishes when digestion
impaired, and in moist atmosphere.
What have consideredrelates only to tn