Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-06-19
Something About the Hair.

| tributing to its defence, like the scarfskin,
of which latter, indeed, they may be re-
garded as notifications suited to 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
as to reach the simultaneous fat Within
the skin, each hair is enclosed in sheath
or tube, closed at its extremity, where it
supports the roots Of the hair, and con-
structed, like the respiratory and oil
tubes, of three layers derived from the
middle, vascular layer, and 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 whis-
kers and beard, they grow to considera-
| bic 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 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
a yard, and its weight to between s. x and
eight ounces 1t many instances the
length far exceeds the above, and the case
is known of 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
half week. This will give 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 a
painting of u carpenter whose beard was
nine feet long, so that when engaged at
work he was obliged to carry it in a bag,
as 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, uod upon it as he was
lt,,r t1n gtat Tn a
Council Chamber of Brunn, and was
thereby thrown down and killed.
The shape of individual hairs is cyln-
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 a series of curious
experiments. He measured the diameter
of 1000 hairs taken from 80 persons, and
found them to range between 1-15OO and
1-400 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 Tea
lander, and he ascertains the thickness of
the 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 our surprise, we learn that the hair
of the fair sex, who are as much superior
TO us in point of delicacy and sensibility
of feeling is as 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
10. IL
1890 Of an inch Flaxen hair is the finest
and black the coarsest the mean thickness
of the black being 1-400 to 1850 of an inch,
gradually decreasing to 1850 to 1400 in
the faxen. The beard produces the
coarsest hair each tube in dark man av.
eraging 1000 of an inch.
Few Of us have any 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 a haired man,
744 pores, each pore being supposed to
give passage to one hair. The surface of
the scalp presents 100 square inches, which
would yield 1920 hairs. The calculation
refers to thin heads, for in others many, if
not all, pores give passage TO two hairs
Reckoning that only half the pores in a
head should give passage to two hairs, we
should find 1,116 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
who own luxuriant heads, carry on them
as many as 175,56O individual hairs.
The shades Of color of human hair APP
pear to be referable to type and to climate.
If we proceed toward the north, the hair
becomes lighter, while if we proceed to
the south il deepens in its hues, these diff
ferences being connected with the amount
of pigment in the scarfskin. The Cauca-
sian variety of mankind, as we behold in
the inhabitants of Europe, has hair Of a
"nutbrown, running on the one hand into
4 yellow, and on the other into black, long,
soft and undulating," whilst the hair Of
The Mongolian variety is black, stiff,
straight and sparing, as we observe in the
natives Of the East Indies, China and the
Laplandcrs 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 O cOpper- cOlored skin, have black,