Rate of Insensible Perspiration (Diffusion of Water) Locally Through Living and Through Dead Human Skin

There are numerous methods for measuring insensible perspiration by determining total insensible loss of weight.1Such methods serve many purposes both clinically and experimentally but have certain limitations. A method which measures insensible loss of water through localized areas of skin often fulfils some of the requirements lacking in methods that measure total insensible loss in weight. The method described by Neumann, Cohn and Burch2measures sensible and insensible loss of water through isolated portions of the skin. These observers did not differentiate between the part of water lost insensibly through secretions of the sweat glands and that part lost through diffusion. It is the purpose of this paper to make such a differentiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Loss of water through isolated areas of living skin was measured by the method previously described.3This consisted essentially of the following procedure: Oxygen was dried by being run from