THE SKIN The Human Skin has tUTo principal functions: to protect the body, and to remove, by perspiration, the re sults of certain bodily changes. The skin consists of two layers, as may be clearly seen when blisters form. The upper layer or outer skin shows a tendency to form cells of a horny substance, such appendages as the hair, nails, and corns being a con tinuation of this process. These horny substances have the property of absorbing a certain amount of water. This softens them and causes them to swell. It is well known that the skin becomes soft by immersion in a hot bath or by having the hands for a considerable time in suds or dishwater, and that this softening ex tends to the nails, corns, and calluses. After a warm bath a considerable quantity of the horny scales of the skin can be removed by the use of a rough towel. Nails, corns, and the like when wet can be readily cut or scraped off. A considerable amount of water remains in the skin after bathing, and unless care is exercised it tends by rapid evaporation to re move heat and to cause colds. But normally a certain amount of water should remain in the skin, and if too much of this evaporates, the skin chaps and cracks.
The permanent color of the skin is due to certain pigment granules found in its inner layer. The tran sient red color, as in blushing, de pends upon the amount of blood in the blood vessels and the thickness of the epidermis or outer skin, most of the blood vessels themselves lying in the inner skin.
The skin contains sweat glands which secrete perspiration, and seba ceous glands, which secrete a fatty substance that tends to keep the skin smooth and to prevent it from drying by too great evaporation. This fatty substance also gives the hair its nat ural gloss. Obstruction of the sweat glands gives rise to pimples, black heads, and the like. These are the principal facts regarding the anat omy of the skin, which should be un derstood by those who seek to im prove its appearance.
There is a direct and reciprocal action between the condition of the skin and the general bodily health. The two watchwords in the campaign for the preservation or improvement of the complexion are, therefore, cleanliness and hygiene. Plenty of
outdoor exercise, good ventilation, a well-regulated appetite, and a cheer ful habit of mind are essential. As to diet, an excess of butter, fat meat, and greasy food should be avoided. All stimulants, as coffee, tea, wine, and spirits, should be given up or used with great moderation. Fruit and vegetables should be the staples of diet; sweets, cake, and pastry, and also pickles and acid foods, should be dispensed with. If these instructions, with those given under baths and bathing, are followed until they be come the habits of a lifetime, the bloom of youth can be preserved far into old age.
Hardening the Skin.—The power of the skin to adjust itself to changes in temperature varies great ly. It can be increased by measures which improve the circulation of the blood, as nourishment and exercise; also by what is sometimes called the " hardening process." The skin may be hardened by living an out-of-door life, wearing light but sufficient cloth ing with woolen next the body, sleep ing with open windows but avoiding draughts, and taking daily baths, first with warm, afterwards with cold water. These steps should be taken gradually, and increased in severity as the body becomes accustomed to them.
Nervous persons, especially chil dren, may be overstimulated by these measures, which may thus lead to lifelong nervous difficulties. The dan ger is minimized by giving the warm bath first. Cold baths alone should not be taken except by persons of strong constitution. The air bath in various temperatures and currents of air is also a valuable means of hardening the skin. This hardening Process tends to prevent colds and their consequences.
Diseases of the Skin.—No general treatment can be suggested that will apply to all diseases of the skin. Eruptions and rashes are often symptomatic of diseases of the blood and other grave conditions. When a strange eruption suddenly appears on the skin a physician should, as a rule, be promptly consulted. There are, however, a number of common disease conditions which yield to sim ple remedies. Among these are tan, sunburn, freckles, moth patches, pim ples, blackheads or flesh worms, moles, etc.