THE EFFECT OF THE CIRCULATION ON THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE OF THE SKIN OF MAN

Procedures producing constriction of the skin blood-vessels bring about a marked fall in electrical resistance of the skin of man. Conversely, procedures producing dilatation bring about a rise. These observations confirm the conclusion of Aveling and McDowall in experiments on animals "that th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental physiology 1927-07, Vol.18 (1), p.33-44
Main Author: Wells, H. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Procedures producing constriction of the skin blood-vessels bring about a marked fall in electrical resistance of the skin of man. Conversely, procedures producing dilatation bring about a rise. These observations confirm the conclusion of Aveling and McDowall in experiments on animals "that the resistance of the skin may be used as an indication of its vascularity." How the changes in the blood-vessels modify the electrical resistance is as yet by no means clear. It is known that new blood corpuscles have a relatively high resistance, but from preliminary experiments which we have carried out it is evident that this does not account wholly for the electrical changes. In this investigation I am indebted to Professor McDowall for suggesting the problem and for assistance in carrying out some of the experiments; to several of my colleagues who kindly allowed themselves to be used as subjects; and to Lord Dawson for the loan of the recording galvanometer. This work was done during the tenure of the Berridge Studentship at King's College.
ISSN:0958-0670
0370-2901
1469-445X
DOI:10.1113/expphysiol.1927.sp000422