Читать книгу The House We Live In; or, The Making of the Body онлайн

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Amy: And the skin stretches, mother. See, I can bend my knee and elbow, and move my fingers as I please.

Mother: Yes, it is like a close-fitting garment. What we call the skin is really two skins. You see I can put a pin through the outer skin in the palm of my hand, and I feel no pain, and you see no blood.

Helen: Isn’t that all the skin we have?

Mother: No; for under this thick, outer skin is what is called the true skin. It has such fine blood-vessels that if you could see them, they would look like fine network. If you should prick this inner skin it would hurt, and the blood would flow. This shows it has nerves as well as blood. Under the true skin is a layer of fat. This is like a warm woolen garment to keep the body warm. Between the outer skin and the true skin there is some jelly-like coloring matter, which gives it color.

Helen: Is that why some persons are very dark and others are light, mother?

Mother: Yes; your true skin is just the same color as that of the negro and the Indian. The coloring matter under the outer skin is all that makes the difference. This outer covering is made of little horny scales laid one over another, much as a roof might be if it had ten or twelve layers of shingles. The outer scales keep wearing away all the time, and new ones take their places. You know a snake sheds its skin and crawls away with a new one. We shed our skin, too, little by little, but the scales are so small we can hardly see them. If you should wear your under-clothing several days, and then shake it in the sunlight, you would see little scales floating about in the air like dust.