[If] a hide has an olive’s volume of flesh on it, one who touches a shred that protrudes from it or a hair that is opposite it is tamei. [If] there were two half-olive-sized pieces [of flesh] on it, it conveys tumah through carrying but not through contact; [these are] the words of R’ Yishmael. R’ Akiva says: Neither through contact nor through carrying. But R’ Akiva agrees that [if] one thrust a chip through two half-olive-sized pieces and moved them, he is tamei. Then why does R’ Akiva declare them tahor [when they are] on the hide? Because the hide renders them negligible.