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WALTER B. SHELLEY, M.D., Ph.D.; ROBERT P. ARTHUR, M.D.

AMA Arch Derm. 1957;76(3):296-323.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The skin is a vast sentient surface, attuned to numerous environmental changes. Although it was first viewed as representing only the fifth sense, i. e., touch, the last century of research has disclosed that the skin is a far more complex sensory receptor. This area of study has long been an actively disputative one, and indeed within the year critical essays have challenged all previously held concepts of both the form and the function of sensory receptors in the skin of man. It is our purpose to review the field of knowledge concerning the itch sensation in man, to report experimental observations of our own, and to attempt an interpretative analysis of the neurophysiological basis for itching.

The modern era of conceptual thinking on the problem of sensory reception in the skin began in 1838, when Johannes Müller¹ enunciated his doctrine of specific energy, i. e., he . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Philadelphia

From the Department of Dermatology (Dr. Donald M. Pillsbury, Director), University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Smith, Kline & French Laboratories Dermatological Research Fellow, 1956-1957 (Dr. Arthur).

Footnotes
Received for publication May 15, 1957.

Supported by U. S. Army Research Contract DA-49-007-MD-154.

Various parts presented as the Sixth Annual Sigmund Pollitzer Lecture, New York, March 19, 1956; and before the American College of Allergists, New York, April 20, 1956, the Association of American Physicians, Atlantic City, May 2, 1956, the A. A. A. S. Gordon Research Conference, New London, N. H., Aug. 22, 1956, and the Bronx Dermatological Society Symposium, New York, Dec. 20, 1956.

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