Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-08-07
"oNLY SKIN DEEP"

Little Valuable Information Relative
to the Natural Covering of Our Bodies.
Bessie's friend, Alice Anderson. was
. beauty. Bessie loved to touch the
pink cheek, smooth the soft, brown,
waving hair, but most of all, admired
the clear blue eye which looked as if it
meant every word Alice said, and trust
ed every word OF Bessie's. And SO,
when a classmate said sneeringly.
Yes, ! know Alice Anderson is beau
ty, but she won't be pretty long; beauty
is only skin deep, Bessie hurried home
to ask her encyclopedia how deep skin
was.
1t is splendid thing TO have an en-
cyclopedia in the house, especially one
of the walking talking kind, that will
tell you all you want to know without
your reading column after column of
things you do not want to know. Aunt
Mary was Bessie's encyclopedia. One
with smiling appendix so encouraging
to little seekers after knowledge.
When the little girl came home with
her question, Aunt Mary's first answer
was a smile; then she said: We'll.
Bessie, that is only common way Of
saying that beauty fades; that it lies
only on the surface, and is not worth
much. But it is not true saying, Bes-
sic, for it gives a false impression of
beauty and of skin-both very valuable
possessions"
But skin is very thin, know, Aunt
Mary, because when burned my hand,
il blistered, and rose up like piece Of
tissue paper"
That was only part of your skin,
not the true skin at all, but a kind of
scarf covering it, and therefore called
outicle, which means scarf-skin. I'm
derneath is the true skin, or cults vera,
The scarf-skin is constantly thrown off,
and as constantly renewed, but the true
skin, like true beauty, is not merely
surface coating, but something more
valuable and more lasting"
I'VE don't shed our skins like snakes,
do we?''
Not exactly, for snakes shed the en-
tire skin at once and not often. We
throw off little PARTICLES few at time
and all the time are being made over
new"
We'll, I'd like to creep out of mine
and get blonde ono like Alice's."
you could not change even if ii
came off whole. Snakes do not, and
your cat is always the same gray cat,
although she has often shed her hair"
They do not have skins like ours
"Yes, only coarser, and with longer
and thicker hair all over them. Skins
are very useful things in this world
There are your shoes, sachel, chair,
lounge, cloak, muf, the binding of
your books-all made of skin. All ami
mails, and all vegetables are covered
with it. Vegetables breathe through
theirs, and animals do to some extent
II do not see any holes for the air to
get in"
Get microscope, and you may see
thousands, but they do something more
than take in air-something very i'm
portant."
What is that?"
They are drains to carry off the i'm
purities of the body"
Il thought drains were pipes for car
rying off dirty water
Yes; and that is Just what your body
has-the best system of sewerage in the
world, all going on without any trouble
to the owner, unless that owner fills up
the pipes so they can not empty the
burden of their impurities.
Where do the impurities come
from?''
From the entire body they are
brought TO the cults, where the net
work of pipes are ready to carry them
off. The cults is not more than one
fifteenth OF an inch deep, yet its fbers
GRO xu0uan and infapwoyou until thew
form strong, flexible web, much like
felt cloth. Over that is an uneven layer
of small, pointed things, called papile
With a microscope you could see in each
papilla nerve, a vein, and an artery"
Has the scarf-skin-the cuticle l
mean-any nerves or blood vessels %
No"
Then why does it hurt when stick
pin in it. and why does the blood
run ?'
1T does not, unless your pin goes
through into the cults, where the
nerves and blood vessels cover the sur,
face, and the slightest cut will sever
an artery or vein; even a needle point
brings the blood and hurts a nerve. But
there are other things in the cults
oil-glands, lymphatics and perspiratory
glands, all at work busy as bees"
What can they do p
Each oil-gland is tiny bag with
tube running up to the surface OF near
ly all parts Of your body. A row Of
them are ranged along your eye-lids
keeping them smooth and soft and
Holding back the briny tears which fill
little basin near by. Water and oil
won't mix, you know, so the tears keep
their places until trouble increases their
quantity, SO that they overflow their
basin, and run out in spite of the OIL
in the ear these oil-glands pour out
little at time, bitter, yellow oil
wax we call (which keeps the inner
ear from becoming dry. At the root Of
each hair on your head pair OF oil
glands pour out the best pomsde the
hair could have. Hold up your hand to
the light, see the fine hairs all ever the