Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-14

|
sion against ones will; but such is the case with
me now. never wrote one syllable about the
subject Of this note, and yet Mr. Dixon, jumb-
ing two notes together Opp, So. So writes as If
had, and tells me that. being a physician.
know that hair is a secretion" etc am
physician, undoubtedly, though / have long
ceased to practice, but do not know. and I do
not intend to know, that hair is a secretion
and as such without any real vitality of ~
own" | look upon bile. saliva. etc ne secra-
lions or excretions. but consider hs,r IN no n
growth, and as such consider il to he endowed
with real vitality, just as much as the akin l.
OF which 1t Is, perhaps. like the nails bnt ar,
etier FORM. Inc outer layers of hair. like the
outer layers of the skin (cuticle or scarf skim
| and like the bark of a tree (for | see Consider
| able resemblance between the trunk OF a free
| and hair), have no doubt but comparativeIy
little vitality in them, but this is not the case
win the inner layers. altogether demur to
Mr.. Dixon's dictum that a hair has not the
| power OF getting rid Of the coloring matter al
| ready deposited in its substance If So a hair
could never begin to get gray at the tip and
yet everybody almost who has arrived at middle
| age must have noticed the tips getting gray
| first. and | have frequently noticed If myself
upon my own body.
AS for hair turning suddenly white-the possi-
bIlity OF its doing so is certainly now generally
admitted by medical men who have paid atten-
q
trenchwoman) who told me that the hair OF one
side of her head became gray in a single night
| on the occasion OF the death OF her husband
Wmcn nad occurred suddenly and under pecu-
larry distressing circumstances; and when
nrst Knew her, though years had clapsed the
difference in color between both sides. notwitb
standing that both were then gray. was still
most marked And my wife has also known an
almost precisel. similar case farmers wife
was the first to see one of her husbands ricks
inf
shortly afterward Git may have been the NEXT
morning. she noticed broad white band RIM
ning across one side other head. NV wife did
not see her till some wears afterwards; still then
she was only thirty, and her hair was perfectly
black with the exception of the broad white
band
Many years ago remember reading i'm a Ger
man medical magazine a paper by a German
physician in which he described similar cases
which had come under his own notice. But he
nad gone further; he had also examined the
hairs under the microscope and he had found
That the colOrlng matter was still there but that
quantity OF bubbles of air had introduced
themselves into the outer layers OF the hair and
produced the appearance OF Wilderness. Yet,
though the whlteness was thus really due TO
what might have been expected to be- only a
temporary cause, the whiteness persisted midi
mlnlshed As long as the cases remained under
MS observation, and seemed likely to be perma-
nent. II seems that a certain number of hub-
Dies OF air are always present in every hair. and
that the color of the hair, to a certain extent
depends upon them. Thus in Strlcker's Hin
man and Comparative Physiology" New Sv,ien-
nam society translation H., 255 find the fol-
lowing:
THE different colors presented by the hair de-
pelld cnieiiy on the pigment contained IN the
ha!r cells that either exists in the form of gran
ules or is equally diffused. But the color of fine
hair also depends on small bubbles of air that
either occur between the cortica scales and the
] Rni
terror"
Ii this is so, and the observations Of the Ger
man medicalman are correct this sudden bancb
| lng or the hair in comparatively Young persons
is due to an abnormal production of these bub-
bles of air which are always present
With regard to J. II. L. A. s EXPLANATION of
the blanching of Marie Antoinette's hair in a
single night, L cannot admit it to be even nos
sbie Marie Antoinette was only thirty-eght
at the time of her death, and she had rather
light brown hair. 1t Is rare, even in the case of
men, for hair of this color to become gray ar so
early an age, and wOmen's hair undoubtedly re-
tams It's abundance and its color much LONGER
than that of men. But even surprising Marie
Ahtoinette mad dyed her hair, and was no Ion
ger able to apply the dye, neither one night nor
month of nights would be sufficient to restore
the natural gray upon the surface Let ]. II
L. A. consult any competent hairdresser. and
he will be told the same thing. When dye is no
longer applied, the hair resumes it's natural
color at the roots only. and a considerable time
would elapse before the new roots wOud he
long enough for their natural color to show IT.
self through the dyed upper part of the hair. of
which the artificial color would remain
AS for Lord Beaconsfeld, he NAV of course
have dyed his hair and beard, as feel sure that
his friend and fellow-dandy. Lord Lytton. did
out, from my own personal observation I do
not believe that he did. 1t has been an ainuse-
ment OF mine for some years past. when have
had nothing better to do-as e. g. i'm railway
carriages, at evening parties etc-to study neo
pies hair and see whether it is dyed or not and
have acquired considerable experience In is
very difficult to keep the roots thoroughly well
dyed. as they grow little every day, and
therefore. If one looks closely one can ALWAYS
see some gray or white roots somewhere and
these would be apparent even In a photograph
Then. again, in the case of man with
swarthy complexion without Color like ord
neacoilsheio' wheh The halr grows gray the COM
peXion, as rule. grows gray likewise and con-
sequently. II the hair Is dyed dark brown or
black, the color of Lord Beaconsfelds $. } the
mar no longer suits the complexion Now /
had an opportunity of closely examining Lord
Beaconsheld from short distance at a public
meeting some four five years before his death
and saw nothing of this sort about him. Re-
sides this, it was stated by at least one ney.sna
per correspondent who had seen Lord Beacons-
field after his death that there were few very
few, silver streaks in his hair. Now no silver
streaks can possibly appear in any hair that has
peeh dyea +. CHANCE.
The following story was told me by one con-
WINGED of its truth. A young lady went to
France as gOvernnes but endured most cruel
treatment from her employers She ultimately
succeeded in getting away. and cab :. TO her
married brother in England Worn out with
fatigue, sorrow and anxiety. her relatives begged
her to go to bed at once. and defer till the NOR
row the account of her sufferings. She Welded
to their entreaties. but on entering her bedroom
the next morning they found the poor sufferer
dead. She lay on her side. and on lifting her
head they found all her hair next the pillow per-
fectly white. The medical men thought. had she
been permitted to relieve her mind of all it's sor
rows Immediately on her return, her life might
have been spared and hair remained unchanged.
ELAN.
was intimately acquainted with lady whose
hair, when she married, at the age of twenty
SIX. was raven black. When | saw her six
months after, it was white as snow In the in
terval she had made the terrible discovery that
she had married a maniac
When was In India. and my hair was begin
ming to fall of. my native barber used TO en-
courage me by saying, ''High caste only go
bald" Whether this was Hindoo folklore or
simply fattery to q sahib, could not tell
q. Fl.