Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-07-14

S.oou "hiost stupeleu Will lear, tfem
piing. greatly, with horror and despni
plainly depicted on his countenance
While the examination was proceeding
the bystanders were startled by the ser
geant i'll charge of the prisoner exclaim
ing "He is turning gray |" All eyei
were turned on the unfortunate man
watching with wondering interest tn,
change coming upon his splendid GLOSSY
Jet-black locks. In half an hour they
were of uniform grayish hue.
Some years ago, n young lady who was
anxiously awaiting the coming of hel
husband elect, received letter convey
ing the sad tidings of his shipwreck ant
death. She instantly fell to the ground
lnsensible. and so remained for five hours
On the following morning her sister saw
that her hair, which had been previously
OF rich brown color, had become as
white as cambria handkerchief, her eye.
brows and eyelashes retaining their na.
tural color. After while the whitened
hair fell of, and was succeeded by II new
growth of gray. This case coming under
the observation of DR.. Erasmus Wilson,
shattered his unbelief in the possibility
OF the sudden conversion OF the hair from
dark color to snow-white. No man
hhoNp iiolC IlulI tlluu W IL
son but he is at loss to explain the
phenomenon quite to his own satisfac-
| ton. eff, says he, sit be established
that the hair is susceptible of permeation
by fluids derived from the blood-a trans
mission of fluids from the blood vessels
of the skin into the substance of the hair
really occurs, the quantity and nature
being modified by the popularity of con-
gtItutinn q or tota oe hna1t1, E -
vidual-it follows that such fluids, being
altered in their chemical qualities, may
possess the power of impressing new
conditions on the structure into which
they enter. Thus, if they contain an ex-
cess OF salts of lime, they may deposit
salts Of lime in the tissue of the hair,
and so produce change in its appear
ance from dark to gray" Then he tells
us: ''The phenomenon may be the re-
suit OF electrical action it may be the
consequence of a chemical alteration
wrought i'll the very blood itself, or it
may be conversion for which the tissue
of the hair is chiefly responsible" So
many 'may-bes' from such an authority
prove that the mystery of the sudden
whitening of the hair is yet unsolved 1t
Is likely to remain lnsolved, since the
doctor-more modest than many of his
brethren-owns that "the mysteries of
vital chemistry are unknown to man."
The whitening of the hair wrought by
mental disturbance is sometimes only of a
partial nature. Nexation of spirit gave
Henry of Navarro n parti-colored nous
tache. An old writer tells of an Irish
captain going to deliver himself up to
Lord Broghill, the commander of the
English forces, who, being met on his way
by party of English soldiers, was made
prisoner, and was 30 apprehensive of be-
ing put to death before Lord Broghill
could interfere in his behalf that the anx-
iety of his mind turned some of his
locks quite white, while the others re-
manned of their original reddish hue.
Perhaps the curious change was less an
noying to its victim than that which be-
fell an American girl, whose first intima.
tion of her lovers falsity was the reading
OF an account Of his marriage in news
paper. After II nights brooding over the
traitors pertidy, her looking glass show
ed her that one side of her head was still
adorned with tresses of golden brown
but the other, alas was decked with
locks more betitting grandma than
maiden still i'll her teens ; though even
this was not SO bad rs was the case of n
French girl, who, frightened by the floor
of her room giving way beneath her, shed
her hair so quickly that in three days
time she was-to use the expressive COM
parison OF chronicler of the event-"as
bald as bell-handle. - Cha,nJerss