_The skin_ is dry, thin, smooth, glossy from atrophy, inelastic like parchment, and is wrinkled from degeneration and disappearance of the elastic tissue, subcutaneous fat and muscular fibre. These changes are most advanced on the face, especially the forehead, and backs of the hands from exposure. The degeneration of the elastic fibres, recently studied by Kissmeyer and With,[138] gives a characteristic mesh-like appearance, depending on the rigid wrinkles, to the skin, which takes a yellow tint. The ivory pallor and coldness are due to the diminution in the capillaries; the skin may show areas of pigmentation and leucodermia--changes described by Sir Lenthal Cheatle as due to the wear and tear of life (biotripsy); in a woman aged 93 Salimbeni and Gery described almost complete disappearance of the papillae and of the collagen fibres. The pigmentation has been regarded as a means of protection, for there is a relation between it and malignant disease, the latter being prone to occur when pigmentation fails (Pringle[139]). These atrophic changes are far commoner on the backs than on the palms of the hands, and it is noteworthy that among Cheatle’s[140] 200 collected cases of malignant disease of the hand there was one only on the palm. The subcutaneous fat is diminished in amount, which is regarded by Sir Arbuthnot Lane, though not with any special reference to old age, as one of the many results of colonic toxaemia. The yellow fat contains excess of cholesterol. There is diminished secretion by the sweat and sebaceous glands, and from this cause and the diminished vascularity there is less loss of heat to correspond with the slower metabolism.