nesses in different parts of the body. In the palms of the
hands and the soles of the feet it is thick, and this is one
reason why these parts are whiter in the Negro than other
parts of the body. I t is said to be of somewhat coarser
texture in the Negro than in the white man.* In the dead
body it is hard and dry; in the living it has a somewhat oily
surface, especially in the Negro, whence the peculiar velvet-
like softness of the skin in the African races.
Haller observed that the cuticle consists in the Negro, in a
healthy state, of two distinct and separate lamellae.f ./Soem-
merring could juever distinguish this double fold of the
cuticle in those parts of the body where it is usually
thin. On the other hand he declares, that he once found
the cuticle distinctly separable into two folds in an European
female, of which he preserved the preparation in his museum.
The cuticle itself is besides not quite so white in th e Negro
as in Europeans, according, to Soemmerring’s observations. 11
has especially on some parts of the body a brown and darker
hue in the former; yet it is not in this part of the.integument
which is more f easily examined, since it may be separated
from thet body by vesication, that the, chief peculiarity-of
complexion consists.
The dark colour of the Negro principally depends on the
substance interposed between the true skin and the scarf-
skin. This substance presents different appearances, and it
is described sometimes as a sort of organized nett-work or
reticular tissue; at others as a mere mucous or slimy layer;
and it is >odd that these somewhat incompatible fideas are
both conveyed by the term rete mucosum, given to the
intermediate portion of the skin by its • original discoverer,
Malpighi.
The cuticle is adherent in the fresh state of parts to the
rete mucosum, and both together are easily separable from
the quticle, but it is very difficult to detach the cuticle alone
from the subjacent rete and true skinT On examining this
middle membrane when either of its coverings is -removed,
with a magnifying glass it has, as Soemmerring observes, the
* Soemmerring, p. 45. H; Prin. Jin Phys. 424. Soemmerring, Ire.
appearance of an irregular net-work. <; pi This mucous net-
work,” says thé same writer, “ constitutes, as long as it is
fresh .and unimpaired, !a sort of third skin difficultly separable
from the outer covering, but more easily1 from the cutis, and
evidently in some-plaëes thièker thàn ‘the cuticle itself*? It
çannot however without much trouble be shown as a particular
detached-:skin, or I as a continuous and self-subsisting
membrane, at least liji any dbiisiderable portions', and" I could
only succeed in this, attempt h it. the- scrotum. It then appears
lighter on the >cuticular than Ion the interior surface:
When putrefaction however, takes place, the skins are eaîéilÿ
separated, and then the Malpighian‘ 'reticle, or middle membrane,
dissolves into a, sóffi* slimy1 miicus,: which* may easily
he washed, away dike an unctuöus pigment- frokfr^the cutis, or
scarf-skin. ■ Th^colouring-jmatter sinks in’ water; and settling
forms again a lay cry somewhat resembling a membrhne. Its
a p p e ^ ^ è è /in this /Statens compared by Mr. Lawrence with
that of the pigm‘en4 ofdhè/cye,' to which it bears a striking
analogy, atid probably almost an identity* of nature." -
_ Thus it appears th at' the-. chief seat of colour iti the black
mqp is ansunorganized extra-vàscular substance; falsely termed
a^ membrane, Qr-iskin, in fact nothing more' than a peculiar
matt©iff*secaieted from the leatis. Hence we nteed'hot'be surprised;
when we find Dr. Gordon asserting;^ that after trying
all the us,ual . means', has neier been able to succeed in
8- mêmbrance in white persons." '
It appears from pathological and other facts,'that8-the5 pre-8
senpe and absence of the .coloured pigment depends oh modifications
in the State of the skin, which may . take place even
after the birth of the individual. It is no uncommon thine'
to s see-^yvhifje-phr^phs with black or ;dark-coloured phtêhes on
the skin of various extent. Many females have a dark tinge extending
over a considerable space round., the nipple during
pregnancy, which disappears in a grèat measure afterwards.
This is unexpl ained by any pathological1 principle^ ; but the
change of -colour which flhappefts at^ludh periods,'varies in
its degree of intensity as well $s in the space occupied by it ;
and in some individuals it has been known to cover the ab