St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-22
PROF. POLL CITES CASES
CURIOUS CHEMICAL CHANGES
PRODUCED IN THE ROOTS
OF HAIR.
NERVOUS EXCITEMENT.
Some of the Changes in Hair Are
of Al Very Remarkable, but
EXplainubIe Character.

character, and that it is influenced by
his mental condition from time to
time. History tells us that Louis the
Severe, of Bavaria, became gray over
| night after numbering a number of
VaSsals who were too attentive to his
wife. Sir Thomas More, Henry
| Wills great chancellor, and Marie
Antoinette are said to have turned
gray in the night after being in
| formed of their doom.
No one has doubted these things
| until the new school psychologists,
being unable to account for the phe-
| nomena, declared them unworthy of
belief. And this in the face of the
| fact that the experience of many per-
sons of the present day supported the
| theory
The hair consists of a root, a shaft
and tip, the latter two being the
projecting parts. It's substance is
composed of horny material con-
tanning the pigment granules, which
are developed in the root and the
| color of which depends on the pres
ence of peculiar oil, sepia tint in
| dark hair, blood red in red hair, and
yellowish in fair hair. While it has
been generally admitted that the hair
! of all mammalia has nerve connec-
ton, similar state of affairs has
been denied with reference to human
| hair until quite recently. The past
lack Of knowledge accounts for the
scepticism of modern Psychologists.
| Their argument was eminently logi-
cal: If nerve activity did not reach
the hair root, it could not affect it.
| The graynesS of the hair COM
mences at the hair bulb, where the
| cells are produced, and rises upward
| to the tip. 1t is caused by deficien-
| cy and the degeneration of the pig
ment matter. The coloring stuff
| either gives out or retrogrades. The
| chemist can perform the same for
| you in an incredibly short time by
simply soaking your raven or auburn
| locks removed from the head in al
| cohol or ether.
TERROR BLEACHED.
An instance of accidental hair
| bleaching in Switzerland came under
| my notice. A peasant boy had under
| taken to rob an eagles nest of it's
young by hanging over a mountain
precipice, his comrades dangling him
on rope. To protect himself against
possible attacks by the old birds he
carried long sword
The boy had captured his prize and
was about to be pulled up, when the
the parents of the little ones, attract
ed by their brood's cries, attacked
him with claw and beaks. To ward
| them off, the young fellow struck out
with his sword, and perceiving GER
tain pull in the rope saw that he had
hit the hawser, which hung only by
| one strand.
Terror seized him, he, might be
| plunged in the abyss every second, a
| prey to the ferocious feathered fiends,
there seemed no hope whatever, till
his friends, by their quick and we'll
calculated action, succeeded in land
ing the seemingly doomed boy safely,
and a drink of Kirch soon revived
| him. But when he took off his cap
| to throw it in joyous fashion into the
air, it was seen that his abundant
brown hair had turned white from
| root to tip.
GRAY BY TREMENS.
Landois, of the Griefswald clinic,
| had a patient suffering from delirium
| tremens, who saw rats and other ami
mails constantly running about him.
He was extremely nervous and when
on the fourth night of his arrival in
the institute one of the physicians
entered the ward suddenly, he became
so terrified that he wrapped himself
| up in his blanket while his teeth chat
tered and his limbs trembled Next
morning it was seen that three-fourths
| of his hair on his head and beard
| had become gray. DR.. Virchow among
other authorities investigated the case
and gave it as his opinion that de-
| generation Of the pigment matter had
nothing to do with the change
| The French physician Raymond had
female patient suffering from neu-
ralgia. Her hair was jet black. In
consequence of an especially bad at
| tack of pain the hair took on a red
dish hue, which after some hours fad
ed into gray. The change occurred
within a space of five hours.
! DR.. Albert tells Of a case where a
womans hair changed from black to
blonde after fever incident to child
birth.
| The insane asylum at Dalldorf, near
| Berlin harbors a female idiot, aged
thirteen, who experiences alternat-
ing fits of comparative quietude, fol-
lowed by periods in which she exhib-
it's terrible excitement and extreme
nervousness. On her quiet days her
skin is dry and her face pale, while
| during her periods of nervous excite
ment she displays great energy and
| her cheeks then are red and her skin
is generally heated.
| The color of her hair changes al
most visibly with the temperature of
her body; it is a yellow blonde, while
| her skin remains dry, and becomes
| auburn when she is excited The
| change occurs within forty-eight
hours and on the third day is at it's
height.
| Medical reports set forth that pa
tients suffering from disease of the
nerves in the head become gray at the
very spots where pains manifested
themselves. This change, in the ma
| jority of cases, took place slowly; in
some cases it occurred over night.
| DR.. Reinhard noticed several cases
in which parties suffering from con-
sumption experienced change in the
color of the hair from light to black
he also told of blonde who lost her
hair after having had typhus. After
| several months a new growth of ha
appeared, but it was jet black.
| GAMBLING AND ANXIETY.
young man, eighteen years DID,
serving in the German army, had been
discovered in the act of hazard play
ing by his chief. He feared dishonor-
able dismissal and spent twenty days
in dreadful anticipation. When, fin
ally, his case was passed on, his
colonel decided not to punish the
young fellow on condition that he
promised never again to touch card.