Volume 2

General anatomy : applied to physiology and the practice of medicine / by X. Bichet ; translated from the last French edition by Constant Coffyn, revised and corrected by George Calvert.

  • Bichet, Xavier, 1771-1802.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General anatomy : applied to physiology and the practice of medicine / by X. Bichet ; translated from the last French edition by Constant Coffyn, revised and corrected by George Calvert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    983/1008 (page 941)
    themselves the principle of decomposition peculiar to all other animal substances. They never rot, either when exposed to air or immersed in water. Thus have we already seen that the cutaneous epi- dermis is found perfect long after the subjacent parts have become putrid. It appears, however, that hair is more incorrup- tible than the epidermis, and even that there is a difference between their respective natures. In fact, 1st. Maceration and ebullition, by which the epidermis is rendered more liable to be torn, though it softens it but very indifferently, leave to the hair its usual degree of resistance, unless carried to such extent as I have not tried. This observation is obvious on comparing them when submitted to those processes. 2dly. Acids and alkalies have a less powerful action upon hair than upon this membrane; but it is dissolved by alkalies with as much and even more facility. 3dly. With due compensation for thickness, a shred of the epidermis is infinitely less resistant than a hair. 4thly. The hair, as well as the epidermis, * may be dyed of divers colours ; but the colour is less durable, and the process requires to be often renewed. Some modern authors have stated that a kind of exfoliation in the form of a ring is separated from the exterior of the hair, but this is not correct. The experiment however described by Fourcroy, and which consists in rubbing a hair