corpus reticulare; in anatomy, a very fine membrane, perforated, in the manner of a net, with a multitude of foramina. It is placed immediately under the cuticle; and when that is separated from the cutis, whether by art or accident, this adheres firmly to it, and is scarcely possible to be parted from it, seeming rather to be its inner superficies than a distinct substance. In regard to this, we are to observe, first, the places in which it is found, being all those in which the sense of feeling is most acute, as in the palms of the hands, the extremities of the fingers, and on the soles of the feet. The tongue, however, is the part where it is most accurately to be observed: it is more easily distinguishable there than anywhere else, and its nature and structure are most evidently seen there.

Its colour in the Europeans is white; but in the Negroes, and other black nations, it is black; in the tawny, it is yellowish; the skin itself in both is white; and the blacks and yellownefs depend altogether on the colour of this membrane.

The uses of the corpus reticulare are to preserve the structure of the other parts of the integuments and keep them in their determinate form and situation. Its apertures give passage to the hairs, and set through the papillae and excretory ducts of the skin: it retains these in a certain and determinate order, that they cannot be removed out of their places, and has some share in preserving the softness of the papillae, which renders them fit for the sense of feeling. See Anatomy, no. 82.