American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-06-21
Something About the Hair.

SOuletuIHS ABDUL TIE f1alTs
HAIRS are appendages of the skin, con-
tributing to its defence, like the scarfskin,
of which latter, indeed, they may be re-
garded as notifications suited to a special
use. The hairs cross the skin like the per-
spiratory and oil tubes, and resemble both
in the extent to which they are prolonged
into it, the dOwny hairs, like the latter,
being limited to the superficial strata; the
long hairs, like the former, extending more
deeply, and even piercing it altogether, so
to reach the simultaneous fat. Within
the skin, each hair is enclosed in a sheath
or tube, closed at its extremity, where it
supports the roots of the hair, and con-
structed, like the perspiratOry and oil
tubes, of three layers derived from the
skin. These are lining of scarfskin, a
middle, vascular layer, and a protective
or fibrous layer. These sheaths or hair
tubes, as they resemble the respiratory
and oil tubes, so also do they initiate them
in function.
Each portion of the skin is organized
for the production of hairs, with the ex-
ception of the palm of the hand and sole
of the foot. On the greater part of the
body the hairs are short and fine, and in
some instances they scarcely rise to above
the level of the skin. In others, as in the
scalp, the eyebrows, and in man the wills
kers and beard, they grow to considera-
BILE length. The length and thickness of
the hair are regulated by law of Nature,
the hair of the head being always longer
and finer than that of the beard, and the
latter longer than the whiskers and eye
brows When hairs are left to their natu-
raj growth, they attain a certain length
and are then thrown off by process anal
ogous to the change of coat in animals
their place being supplied by young hairs,
which grow from the same tubes. This
temporary decay of the hair happens also
when it is kept cut.
The length of the hair of the head in
women ranges between twenty inches and
yard and its weight to between six and
eight ounces 1t many instances the
length far exceeds the above, and the case
is known of Il lady in whom it measures
two yards, and trails on the ground when
she stands erect When the hair is fire.
quently shaved, it becomes more persist
ent, and increases in strength and bulk.
1t has been calculated that the hair of the
beard grows at the rate of one line and a
half week This will give a length of
six and half inches for year, so that an
old man of eighty would have shaved
from his chin twenty seven feet of beard.
This is by no means surprising, when Mr..
Erasmus Wilson tells us in his treatise on
Healthy Skin" that according to Eble,
there is in the Princes Palace at Eidam
painting of Il carpenter whose beard was
nine feet long, so that when engaged at
work he was obliged to carry it in bag,
as Il lawyer carries his briefs Moreover,
we are told by the same authority, that
the Burgomeister Hans Stieningen, hav-
ing on one occasion forgotten to fold up
his majestic beard trod upon it as he was
ascending the staircase leading to the
Council Chamber of Brunn, and was
thereby thrown down and killed.
The shape of individual hairs is cylin-
drical for the smaller kinds and oval for
those that are longer. With the view of
ascertaining the thickness of hair, Mr.
Erasmus Wilson made series of curious
experiments. He measured the diameter
of 1000 hairs taken from 80 persons, and
found them to range between 1-15OO and
LOO of an inch, the mean being 1850 to
1-400 of an inch. He then measured 155
hairs taken from the heads of three
South American chiefs and one New Zea-
lander, and he ascertains the thickness of
tie hairs of the South Americans to be
about the same as those from English
heads, whilst the hairs belonging to the
gentleman from New Zealand were some
what thicker, averaging about 1850 of an
inch.
To or surprise, we learn that the hair
of the fair sex, who are much superior
to us in point of delicacy and senSibility
of feeling, is as a rule coarser than that OF
the dark sex. In children it is naturally
finer than in adults. Great diversity is
discovered IN hairs from the same head,
and even in the diameter of the same hair,
and one tested by Mr.. Erasmus Wilson
was perceived 10 range between 1-50O and
1890 of an inch FlaXen hair is the finest
and black the colrsest, the mean thickness
of the black being 1-4OO to 1850 of an inch,
gradually decreasing to 1850 to 1-4OO in
the tlaxen. The beard produces the
coarsest hair, each lube in dark man av-
eraging 100 of an inch
Few of us have am idea of the number
OF hairs we possess on our heads. Mr.
Erasmus Wilson can tell us to a nicely
He observed, on inspection, in square
inch on the scalp of Il brown haired man,
IA pores, each pore Icing supposed to
give passage to one hair The surface of
the scalp presents 100 square inches, which
would yield 50 ,2SO hairs. The calculation
refers to thin heads, for i'm others many, if
not all, pores give passage to two hairs
Reckoning that only half tae pores in a
head should give passage to two hairs, we
should find JIG hairs per square inch, or
133, 920 hairs on a medium head; whilst, if
we calculate two hairs on each pore, we
shall arrive at the conclusion that those
as many as $3.50 individual hlirs
The shades of color of human hair an
pear to be referable to type and to climate
If we proceed toward the north, he hair
becomes lighter while if we proceed to
the south it deepens in its hues, these diff
ferences being connected with the amount
of pigment in the scarf-skin. The Cauca-
sian variety of mankind, as we behold in
the inhabitants of Europe, has hair of a
"nut-brown, running on the one hand into
yellow, and on the other into black, long,
soft and undulating,' whilst the haii of
The Mongolian variety is black, stiff,
straight and sparing, as we observe in the
natives of the East Indies, China and the
Laplanders and EsquimauX. The hair in
the Ethiopian variety is black and crisp,
and accompanied by black skin as in
the negro. The American Indians, who
possess IA copper-color skin, have black,
stiff, straight and spare hair like the Mon
golian race; and the Malay variety, which
includes the inhabitants of Malacca, the
East Indies, and the Pacific Islands, is
characterized by tawny skin, and black,
soft, curly, thick and abundant hair
D"bttn University Nogazine.
IT has been proved that, after kindling
his fire, miser stuck a cork in the end of
his bellows to save the little wind that
was left in them