The Coolidge examiner., 1934-12-21
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SKIN POWER or SELF
DISTINCTION

one twenty -htth OF an inch thick.
Yet Ats all the protection we have
Tor the inside ot our bodies against
the outside world. Unless we're
nudists or fan dancers. we cover II
with clothes. parts OF II. But we
all OF US occasionally set our bare
faces against 7J mile an hour
wind; We 30 oct into cold that Is
80 10 30 degrees below zero: on
hot day We move about under a
sun that Is hrolllng at 10 degrees.
when We can't stand fever TEN
perature of much over l05 degrees.
And We DO oil sorts Of work with
our bare hands.
But we stlll don't know much
about this skin Of ours. Science has
been concerning itself with our
bones. our hearts, lungs and other
vital organs. II hasn't been giving
SO very much attention TO this thin
layer OF tissue that keeps our body
from drying out
one thing. however. we have been
finding out IN the medical research
laboratories Of the University OF
Illinois. and that Is that our skin
Is just about the most remarkable
dislnfectlne agent there Is. You can
put all sorts OF germs. millions OF
them. on clean healthy skin. and In
Few minutes they have disap-
peared
We discovered. though. that the
skin has certain minute never-ster-
lle areas. where the germs don't dis
appear. The FIRST OF these Is the
area under the finger nails. The
second Is the thin line that marks
the junction Of the outside skin OF
the lip with the membrane lining OF
the mouth. The third is the line
where the outside skin Joins the
membrane lining OF the nostrils.
The fourth ls the rim OF the evelid
where the outside skin meets the
inside lining.
The FIRST experiments were made
on the outside skin. The unlver-
slty laboratory assistants. all nor
NAL. healthy persons. were the sub
iects. This ls how the experiments
were conducted. When the chest.
abdomen. back. legs or arms were
studied. a piece OF sterile gauze was
molstened with bacterial culture
aDd placed upon the skin area for
one to three minutes Then the
gauze was removed and Immediately
after the skin was rubbed gently
with a sterile cotton swab. This
swab was then smeared over the
surface OF an agar plate. and the
number of bacteria were counted.
In five minutes another sample was
taken. and then again In ten. fifteen.
twenty. and thirty minutes. when
the specimens were taken OF the
hands. the whole hand was sub
merged In the bacteria solution.
and then specimens taken OF the VA
ri0us sections 10 learn II one section
vas more resistant than another.
This Is what we found: That 9s
per cent Of the thousands OF bac-
terra that had been placed In con
tact with the skin disappeared from
the skin within ten minutes. That
there Is one exception 20 the self
dlslnfection OF the outside skin.
This. as has already been stated. Is
the skin under the nails. Even
after the thorough scrubblng and
cleaning that the surgeon gives
his hands before performing an
operation. germs called staphylo-
eocoi are always present In large
numbers In these spaces.
Altogether eleven various kinds
OF bacteria were used In the tests.
from the harmless Bcoli to the
germs that produce wound infec-
tions. lockjaw, boils. blood poison
Ing. typhoid and dysentery. The
skin got rid OF the dangerous germs
Just as quickly as Il got rid OF those
that were harmless.
These tests were on clean skin.
Then we experimental with skin
coated with fat yasellne rubbed
into the hands was used In one test.
That retarded considerably the self
disinfecting power Of the skin. Then
naturally oily skin was next
swabbed. That also did not work
so well.
Finally some plumbers and cleo
tricIans were called In just as they
were finishing their days work and
before they had washed. Their
hands were OF course grimy. The
tests were applied before and after
washing, with these results: After
10 minutes the dirty hands showed
no reduction OF bacteria: the clean
hands had lost s5 per cent After
20 minutes. the dirty hands had
lost only per cent OF bacteria;
the clean hands were entirely free.
After 30 minutes the dirty hands
still retained 81 per cent Of their
bacteria.
Next we removed a patch Of out
side skin 10 see whether the next
layer OF skin had the same resist
ance power. But II hasn't The
second layer Of skin tissue has no
more germ resisting power than the |
other tissues Of the body. So our /