THE SKIN.
The skin is a membrane or external casing of the body. The skin itself consists of two layers covered with hair, fine or coarse, long or short, according to its position or purpose which nature intended it to serve. The outer layer is called the epidermis, the inner the dermis.
The Epidermis.—The epidermis is the outer layer. It is not supplied with nerves and blood vessels, its purpose being to protect the inner layer. This layer undergoes a continual process of being made up and passing away in dandruff.
The Dermis.—The dermis or true skin lies under the epidermis. It is well supplied with nerves and blood vessels, part of the nerves being the nerves of touch. This fact accounts for its becoming so very sensitive and painful when through injury of any kind the outer layer is scraped off. It is attached to the body by a layer of white tissue known as the areolor tissue, this being that which is cut through when the animal is being skinned. The thickness of the skin varies in different parts of the body, being thinnest in the under parts. The sweat glands are situated in the dermis.