The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-16

% was faule de Toulouse, who wns fol-
loWed by SO tumultuous a crowd of ad-
Inirers Whenever she went abroad as TO
compel the interference Of the magistrates
70 keep the peace. Phryne corrupted her
Judges by standing before them with no
covering but her glorious golden hair. Mi
herVa, Venus, Aurora, Floro, Pomona, are
all pictured as blondes.
A single extract from a curious book of
Uhree centuries ago will suffice to show how
the danes OF Venice set to work to acquire
the coveted blonde tint, the dangers tuey
incurred and what privations they endured
IN the attainment of it. Cesare Vecellio,
writing Ia 1889, gives picture of the would
oe ialr venetian, with her dripping head
exposed to the sun:
The houses in Venice are commonly
crowned with little constructors in wood,
resembling turret without a roof on the
ground. These lodges or boxes are formed
or masonry, floored like what are called
uerrazzl at Florence and Naples. and COW
cred with a cement of sand and lime to pro-
tect them from the rain. 1t is in these that
the venetian women may be seen as often
and indeed oftener, than in their chambers
IL is here that, with their heads exposed to
the tull ardor of the sun during the whole
DAY, they strain every nerve to augment
their charms, asif they needed it, as if the
constant use of so many methods known to
pass for no better than artificial During
the hours when the sun darts its most verti-
cal ana screening rays they repair to these
boxes and condemn themselves to broil in
them, unattended. Seated there they keen
on wetting their hair with a sponge dipped
Ia some elixir of youth, often prepared by
their own hands. They moisten their hair
afresh as fast as 1t is died by the sun. and il
is by the unceasing renewal of this opera
ton that they become what you see them
blondes When thus engaged they throw
over their ordinary dress peignor or dress
ing gown of the finest white silk, which
they call schiavonetto. They wear on their
heads a straw hat without a crown, SO that
the hair drawn through the opening NAV
be spread upon the borders. This hat. do
ing double duty as drying line for the
hair and parasol to protect the neck and
face, is called sOlana. In winter or when
the sun failed they wetted and dried their
hair before a fire"
The precise duration Of this practice is left
in doubt. 1t certainly lasted long enough
to exercise a marked influence on art, and
we learn from the same authority that it
spread rapidly, including all Italy, if not
all Europe"
OF all the various shades of color. ligbt
yellow. golden or blonde hair has been the
most esteemed; "fair-haired" is a household
word with all Greek writers, while with the
Latlns las IN our own times) it was the
fashionable color. Chestnut is another pom
ular shade; Christ is always 80 represented,
and many of the Madonnas of the old
masters.
Red hair some years ago was not admired
yet now 1t is almost as much esteemed as
yellow, as barbers-we beg pardon, ceramic
logists, as they term themselves NOWADAYS
by means of certain charms can pro
duce upon it beautiful golden yellowish
sheen that ''outyellows" yellow itself. Red
hair was always an object of aversion
among the ancients. Ages before the time
of Judas lscariot red hair was thought a
mark of Reproduction. Typhon and Nebu-
chadnezzar are instances of this; the former.
who acquired it because he deprived his
brother of the scepter of Egypt, and the
latter, who bore it in expiration of his atroc-
tiles. Even the donkey tribe suffered from
this ill-omened visitation, according to the
prOverb of wicked as a red ASST Asses of
that color were held in such high detesta-
ton by the Copts that every year they sac
rificed one by hurting it from a high wall.
Black hair was not much esteemed by the
Romans; but red was detested. Black is
always used on the stage with such charac-
tiers as pirates. robbers, desperate villains,
etc, although it is probable that many of
the worst criminals have had hair Of other
shades. Auburn is the shade given by By.
ron to his famous Haidee:
Her hairs long auburn waves"
Light brown hair was thought the most
distinguished, as portending intelligence,
industry, a peaceful disposition, as well as a
great susceptibility to tender passions.
Castor and Polluz had brown hair, as also
had Menelaus.
Fright and other strong mental emotions
have been given the credit of turning the
hair white. sometimes even sin single
night" but the accomplishment of the re-
verse of the process, turning white hair
black, is not generally known as a possibil-
bility, although it rests upon good evidence.
In the Therapeutic Gazette for April is
an account of a case where the snow-white
hair of woman of ~ became black in
patches after the use of Jaborandi for the
relief of the pruritus accompanying chronic
interstitial nephritis. The case Is reported
by DR.. D. w. Prentiss of Washington, pro-
fessor of materia lnedica and therapeutics
in the medical department of Columbian
university DIR. Prentiss says that he re-
ported similar case, in 1881, in the Phila-
delphia Medical Times and that the patient
is now living and is well known to many
people IN Washington, her hair remaining
dark brown, while it was of a light-blonde