Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/263

* SKIN. 217 SKINNER. tending over the whole body, and many other illustrations might be given. The cU'eet of rub- bing is probably to force the particles of the mat- ter into the orifices of the glands, where they are more easily absorbed than they would be through the epidermis. It has been proved by experiment that the skin has the power of absorbing water, although to a less extent than occurs in thin- slcinned animals, such as frogs and lizards. This fact has a practical application. In severe eases of dysphagia — dilhcult swallowing — when not even lluids can be taken into the stomach, immersion in a bath of warm water, or of milk and water, may assuage the thirst. Sailors, also, when destittite of fresh water, find their urgent thirst allayed b- soaking their clothes in salt water. Further, the skin possesses a respiratory function, giving oft' a small amount of carbon dioxide and taking up a small quantity of oxygen in twenty-four hours. In thin-skinned animals such as the frog, the excretion of carbon dioxide through this channel is very active. When a frog is innnersed in oil death takes place sooner than by ligature of the bronchi, but in the ease of man and the higher animals, where varnish and other impervious substances have been applied to the skin, death has taken place from other causes than suft'ocation. SKIN DISEASE. A morbid condition of the skin, occurring as a local disorder or as a local symptom of a constitutional disease. Skin dis- eases are classed according to the anatomical manifestations or the pathological relations in- volved. Maculw include spots which do not dis- appear on pressure, such as freckles, moles, and birtlimarks. Exanthemata include rashes in which there are eruptions of spots variously grouped, red, inflammatory, and fading on pres- sure, as in measles, roseola, purpura, and urti- caria. PapuliF. or pimples, are pointed or round- ed elevations with or without change of color. Tubercles are solid elevations of the cutis of various sizes, and include boils, warts, and lupus. Vesicles are small blebs containing fluid, such as in eczema, miliaria, or varicella. Bullee are larg- er vesicles, as in pemphigus. Pustules are vesi- cles containing ptirulent fluid, Furfura is the term given to bran-like scales, easily separable, as in dandruft", Squnniw are scales of larger size than furfura. .S'cofts, or crusts, are collec- tions of mottled epidermis, exudation, dust, and blood, or pus, of varying tint and thickness. Skin diseases are largely grouped upon the existence of the characteristics just named in classification. They are separately treated in this work. SKIN-GRAFTING. In cases of extensive destruction of the skin, leaving large sores that do not heal, and also in treating old tilcers, small particles of skin, cut from the patient or another person, are placed upon the raw surface. Here they soon become attached and grow, form- ing a ninnber of small islands or patches of skin over the surface of the ulcer: these in time spread till all is covered. Sometimes small pieces of skin, about the size of the head of a pin, are used ; but frequently grafts of the stiperficial ?kin (one-half to three-quarters of an inch in width and two to three inches in length) are oit with a razor and are transplanted to the denuded are.a after it has become covered with healthy granulations. In this way some sores are cured which otherwise would never heal. This i? termed Thiersch's method. See Rhinoplastio Ol'KRATIO.X. SKINK (from I.at. scincus, from Gk. aKljKos, skiiihos, sort of lizard). A small lizard {Scincus ofliciiHilisj of the sandy deserts of North Africa and Southwestern .sia. It is from six to eight inches long, reddish-dun in color, with darker transverse bands, a wedge-shaped head, and four strong limbs that give it extraordinary swiftness. It lias been in great repute for imaginary medici- nal virtues from remote times, and is still in high esteem in the Kast, dried skinks finding a ready sale. It represents the pleurodont sand-loving family Scincidse, whose genera and species are scattered all over the world, and exhibit many variations, five, four, three, or two toes distin- guishing species even within the same genus. An aberrant and curious form is the Australian Trachysaurus, illustrated on the Plate of I.lZARns (q.v. ).. few true skinks of the genus Mabouia dwell in tropical America : but the small swift lizard frequently so called in the Northern United States (see Fence Lizard) is not of this family. Consult Gadow, Ampliibia and Reptiles (London, 1002). SKIN'NER, Charles Montgomery (1852—). An .merican editor and author, born at Victor, Ontario County, N. Y. He received a common- school education in Cambridge, Mass., and Hart- ford. Conn., and in 1884 joined the staff of the Brooklj-n Eayle. Among his chief publications are three volumes of interesting essays on nature subjects, yature in a Citji Yard (1897), Do Sothing Days (1899), and Flowers in the Pave ( 1900) ; Myths and Legends of Our Land ( 1896) ; Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders ( 1899) ; Myths and Legends of Our New Possessions (1900); and American Myths and Legends (1903). SKINNER, Charles Rufus (1844—). An American educator. He was born in Oswego Countv, N. Y., and attended the Mexico .4cademy and tiie Clinton Liberal Institute. From 1877 to 1881 he was a member of the New York As- sembly: from 1881 to 1885 a member of Con- gress; from 1886 to 1892 Deputy State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction in New York; and in 1896 was appointed State Superintendent of Public Instruction. SKINNER, John (1721-1807). A Scotch poet, liorn at Balfotir, in .berdeenshire, where his father was a schoolmaster. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and thereafter passed several years as a teacher in parish schools. Abandoning Presbyterianism, in which he was brought up, he was appointed in 1742 Episcopal minister at Longside, in .Aberdeen- shire, where he passed his life. Owing to his Jacobite sympathies during the excitement of 1745, his church was destroyed, and in 1753 he was imprisoned six months for preaching. He published several theological and controversial works, including A Preservative Against Preshy- tery (1740), A Dissertation on Joh's Propheci/ (1757), and an Ecclesiastical History of Scot- land (1788). He is, however, more widely known for his songs, which were genei'ously praised by Burns. Indeed, the younger poet ranked Tul- loehgorum. as "the best Scotch song ever Scot- land saw." Burns also liked the pathos of The Eicie u'i' the Crookit Born. Among Skinner's