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PERSPIRATION. 847
The Perspiration. Of the bodies secreted by the skin, whose quantity
amounts to about ^j of the weight of the body, a disproportionately
large part consists of water. Next to the kidneys, the skin, in man, is
the most important means for the elimination of water. As the glands
of the skin and the kidneys stand near to each other in regard to their
functions, they may to a certain extent act vicariously.
The circumstances which influence the secretion of perspiration are numerous,
and the quantity of sweat secreted must consequently vary considerably. The
secretion differs in different parts of the skin, and it has been stated that the per-
spiration of the cheek, that of the palm of the hand, and that under the arm stand
to each other as 100:90:45. From the unecjual secretion on different parts of the
body it follows that no results as to the quantity of secretion for the entire surface
of the body can be calculated from the quantity secreted by a small part of the
skin in a given time. In determining the total quantity a stronger secretion is as
a rule produced, and as the glands can with difficulty work for a long time with
the same energy, it is hardly correct to estimate the quantity of secretion per day
from a strong secretion during only a short time.
The perspiration obtained for ’investigation is never quite pure, but
contains cast-off epidermis-cells, also cells and fat-globules from the
sebaceous glands. Filtered perspiration is a clear, colorless fluid with
a salty taste and of different odors from different parts of the body. The
physiological reaction is acid, according to most reports. Under certain
conditions an alkaline sweat may be secreted (Trumpy and Luchsinger,
Heuss). An alkaline reaction may also depend on a decomposition
with the formation of ammonia. According to a few investigators the
physiological reaction is alkaline, and an acid reaction depends upon
an admixture of fatty acids from the sebum. Camerer found that
the reaction of human perspiration in certain cases was acid and in
others alkaline. Moriggia found that the sweat from herbivora was
ordinarily alkaline, while that from carnivora was generally acid.
Smith j
showed that horse’s sweat is strongly alkaline.
Kittsteiner,2
who has found that human perspiration is nearly always
acid, has also found that the perspiration from the vola manus, when
not contaminated with sebum, is acid in reaction and that an acid reac-
tion is not necessarily dependent upon an admixture with sebum.
The specific gravity of human perspiration varies between 1.001
and 1.010. It contains 977.4-995.6 p. m., average about 982 p. m.
water. The solids are 4.4-22.6 p. m. The molecular concentration
also varies widely and the freezing-point depression depends essentially
1
Trumpy and Luchsinger, Pfli’iger’s Arch., 18; Heuss, Maly’s Jahresbcr., 22;
Camerer, Zeitschr. f. Biologie, 41; Moriggia, Moleschott’s Untersuch. zur Xaturlehre,
11; Smith, Journ. of Physiol., 11. In regard to the older literature on perspiration,
Bee Hermann’s Handbuch, 5, Thl. 1, 421 and 543.
2
Arch. f. Hyg., 73 and 78.
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