INSENSIBLE PERSPIRATION AND THE GALVANIC SKIN REFLEX

Abstract

Data on 13 subjects show occasional striking correspondences as well as many discrepancies between measurements of skin resistance, and the rate of total insensible wt. loss. In different persons skin conductances at corresponding points do not always show the same relation to the rate of total wt. loss. In the same person under varying conditions, first one skin area and then another may show a closer parallelism with wt. loss, as if one part of the skin and then another were playing a primary role in heat elimination. Evidently, measurements of skin resistance (conductance) may not be used as an index of the general insensible wt. loss, and, indirectly. of the metabolic level of active persons. Conversely, it seems that the occurrence of a metabolic increment or decrement under a given condition is highly fortuitous, and its value for activity studies always subject to question.