Die Dreigliederung der Haut

Die Dreigliederung der Haut

UTE EDLUND
Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2005, 2005, P.80-134 | DOI: 10.18756/jfg.2005.80
Biology | Language: German | €6
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Abstract:

The threefoldness of the skin

If the three layers of the human skin are analysed according to a functional view, a picture of the effective formative forces in the skin is produced.

The primary formative force of the outermost layer (epidermis) produces the horny substance which isolates the physical organism from its environment. The production of the horny substance takes place by a death process of the horn-producing cells involved. This is called terminal differentiation. This process of terminal differentiation leads the substance to solidification and rigidity from which it cannot be reintegrated into the living organism but is expelled. Physiologically and biochemically the epidermis shows the characteristics of organs with ectoderrnal origin: the brain and the nerve system.

The internal layer of the skin, the fatty tissue, presents a functional character that is polar to the epidermis. The subcutaneous fatty tissue is part of the metabolic system of the organism. As a store for fats it is situath between uptake of nutritional fats and their release according to the needs of the organism. Moreover, the fatty tissue is an endocrine organ whose horrnoncs affect various metabolic processes. In its lack of rigid, solid structures and the resistance to apoptosis (programmed cell death) of the fat cells it represents a polarity to the epidermis.

The dermis as the middle layer reveals properties of both formative principles. The histological picture of the dermis is determined by the intercellular substance which consists of a structured part, the fibres, and a structureless part, the amorphous matrix. As a tissue the dermis is rich in blood and lymph vessels, and also the intercellular substance is functionally part of the organism’s circulation processes. In the dermis the functions of the rhythmic system predominate.

Thus the skin with its three layers represents all three parts of the whole human organism: nerve-sense system, rhythmic system and digestive system.

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