Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-08-01

viz A-AAt hCANAo NA0 A0AAn VI NOn@
troll over all things within the
body, and is barrier against the
reception of injuries from without.
He who makes a speciality of der
matology has printed in the parch-
ment of the epidermis every dis
ease that assails the patient, and
if he read aright can from that
open book clearly tell the progress
of that otherwise unseen enemy.
There is no more favorable want
age ground for the physician than
the ultimate enveloping membrane
Of the body. Other specialties, as
that of the eye, or the ear, the
throat, or the stomach, give knowl-
edge of a part of the system, and
inferentislly of the whole man,
but the skin in its deviations from
health tells in every minutest par
ticular Of the state of the patient.
Gently knocking at the very out
ermost door of the cuticle, or the
most external portions of the skin,
We enter through one of the pores
of which it is estimated 125,000
can be covered by one grain of
sand Place over the body Of a
man of ordinary size grains of sand
so that the skin is wholly covered,
count now these grains and multi
ply this by 125,000 and see the
enormous stomach through which
the nerves obtain their supplies of
richest food. These animated
pores, constantly drinking the
purest constituents of the atmos-
phere, send these nectars to the
cortical cells of the brain as foods
sufficiently refined to serve the
kings table. Within the brain these
ambrosial feasts are further exam
ined and formed into nerves.
Stupendous processl These pores,
situated in the outermost parts of
the body, Gull from the air the
sweetest essences of flowers. The
invigorating, invisible soul of
the newly mown grass carries its
dainty supplies to the building up
of the nerve fibre, and thousands
of foods, to show that man lives
not by bread alone, are drawn in
through these minute pores that
have their bed in the in the insen-
safe cuticle.
Covering the pores are lamell@,
or scales, yielding themselves to
every requirement of the parts
they serve. The duties imposed
upon the scales of the cuticle de-
fine their character, and as is the
papillary substance beneath, SO
they are hard or soft, moist or dry,
elastic or unyielding. Here, alone,
can our vast storehouse of thera-
peutic appliances find abundant
indications for the treatment of
any disease within the body. The
only portion of the body that in
health is devoid of sensation and
gives itself absolutely to the duty
of serving other parts, affords from
its character full information as to
the selection of the appropriate
remedy. This willing salve is the
outermost boundary of the deepest
atom of the body. 1t is the alpha,
of which that is the omega, and
all Intermediates are photograph
ed upon its plant face. Beneath
the cuticle is the rete mucosum.
The better to describe the several
layers composing the skin, refer
ence will now be made to the pa
pillary substance, or the cults, that
lies next beneath the rete mocos-
um. The body of the man is the
house he occupies-the skin is the
wall of that house. The rough
uncovered laths throughout the
interior of the house, with inter
stices and projecting surfaces, are
as the sensitive papillary substanc-
es. Over these laths the plaster is
applied to give a smooth surface,
as the rete is applied over the pa
pill@. And upon this plaster the
highly polished, hard and nom
sensitive glazing is made to pro-
tect the plaster and the laths be-
meath, as the cuticle protects the
rete. The rete is the portion in
which the coloring matter resides,
and as is its color so is the color
of the cuticle, but beneath this
rete all men are alike, white.
Here, too, the pores of the second
class arise and empty themselves
at the open doors Of the scaly cu-
ticle, giving forth vast quantities