Perspiration
watery matter of the Church of Scotland, convened at Perth by the order of James VI. in 1618.
The first of these articles required communicants to receive the elements kneeling; the second permitted the dispensation of the communion privately in case of sickness; the third allowed private "breathed out," or made to expire from the system by means of the pores in the skin. The quantity varies greatly, and is affected by the amount of heat or dry ness in the atmosphere, by the fluid drunk, by the exercise taken, by the relative activity of the kidneys, by medicine, baptism on sufficient cause being shown; etc. Besides keeping the skin in a healthy, moist condition, and acting as a refrigerator, perspiration takes its share in carrying off superfluous or noxious matter from the system. If stopped, morbid consequences are sure, sooner or later, to ensue.
The horse perspires freely all over the body; the pig does so on the snout; the cat chiefly on the soles of the feet; the dog from the same part, but not to the same extent. Rabbits, and the rodentia generally, appear not to sweat at all. It is used also of the transudation of water through pores of plants. According to Hales, the perspiration of plants plants is proportionately 17 times as copious as that of animals.