The herald., 1896-07-07
CoIoring Matter Is Subject to
Deterioration
GIVES OUT OR RETROGRADES
A Variety of Causes Sufficient to Effect
Change
Terror, Grief, Anxiety and Dissipation Affect
the Hair-Some Interesting Cases
Related by q Doctor

The grayness of the hair commences al
the hair bulbs, where the cells are pro-
duced, and rises upward to the tip. 1t II
caused by deficiency and the degenera.
tion respectively Of the pigment matter.
The coloring stuff either gives out or retro
grades. 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 alcohol on
ether.
An instance of accidental hair bleaching
in Switzerland came under my notice. A
peasant boy had undertaken to rob an
eagles nest Of its young by hanging over
a mountain precipice, his comrades dam
CLING him on q rope. To protect himself
against possible attacks by the old birds
he carried q long sword.
Tho boy had captured his prize and was
about to be pulled up when tho parents
of the littlo ones attracted by their brood's
cries, attacked him with claws and beaks.
To ward them off the young fellow struck
out with his sword, and, parceiving a oer-
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, prey to tho
ferocious feathered hends. There seemed
no hope whatever till his friends, by q
quick and well calculated action, succeeded
in landing the seemingly doomed boy safe
ly, and drink of kirch soon revived him.
But when he took off his cap to throw 1t,
in joyous fashion, into the air 1t was seen
that his abundant brown hair had turned
white from root to tip.
Landois of tho Greifswald clinic had q
patient suffering from delirium tremens
who saw rats and other animals CONSTANT
ly running about him. He was extremely
nervous and when on the fourth night Of
his arrival in the institute one of the ply
sicians entered the ward suddenly, he be-
came SO terrified that he wrapped himself
up in his blanket while his teeth ohattered
and his limbs trembled. Next morning 10
| was seen that three-fourths of his hair on
his head and beard 6ad become gray. DR..
| Virchow among other authorities investi-
| gated the case and gave 1t as his opinion
that degeneration Of the pigment matter
had nothing to do with the change.
| Medical reports set forth that patients
| suffering from diseases of the nerves in
the head become gray at the very spots
where pains manifested themselves. This
change in the majority Of cases took place
slowly; in some cases it occurred over
night.
DR.. Reinhard noticed several oases in
which parties suffering from consumption
experienced u change in the color Of tho
hair from light to blaokl he also told Of
blond who lost her hair after having had
typhus fever. After several months q new
growth of hair appeared, but 1t was jet
black.
A young man 18 years old, serving In
the German army, had been discovered In
the act of hazard playing by his chief. He
feared dishonorable dismissal and spent 30
days in dreadful anticipation. When finally
his case was passed on, bis colonel decided
not to punish the young fellow on oondi-
tion that he promised never again to touch
q card. After 1t was all over out bunch
of hairs from the oulprit's head to subject
them to microscopical Investigation.
In this connection 1t should be stated
that the growth Of hair allows Of measure
ment day by day. At an average young
peoples hair grows at the rate Of 16 lines
(12 lines make one inoh) per month, but
there are exceptions. My young friends
hair, according to previous Investigations,
grew only at the rate Of ono-fourth Of q
line per day. Taking this for the basis Of
my examination it was easy to determine
on what particular days certain portions
of the hair, which I cut from his head,
had formed. 1 found that beginning with
the particles formed on July and termi
mating with the formations of July "a, the
hair had changed from brown to reddish
and light blush tints, increasing In inten-
sity until, under the microscope, it ap-
peared almost a yellowish white.
The young mans diary showed that
during that period he had gambled, losing
steadily. Consequently his nervous ex-
citement grew apuce. On tho Gath Ii
reached it's height, and then he found
himself vis-a-vis with Nemesis personifed
| by his superior officer. After that followed
q period of quiet resignation, during
which tho hair assumed its natural color,
but as the day of judgment grew near in
the second week of August the tint chang
| ed again from brown to brown yellow and
/ blush green. The inference Is obvious.
A gentleman OF my acquaintance receiv-
ed on Oct 16 of last year news that his
only son was suffering from fatal NAL
ady. On Nov. the patient was declared
to be out of danger. Five days later cut
! q bunch OF hair from my friends head,
and after conducting preliminary investi-
| cations similar to those in the case of the
young soldier let the microscope tell the
story. The formations from the root up
/ ward, covering period of five days, were
| entirely normal. Those formed between
Oct. 16 and Nov. 4 4exhibited the following
| tints:
Black blue turned red, red turned yell
! lowish brown, blood orange light yellow.
Though our knowledge of the barometer
| qualities of the hair is crude and unfln-
ished, yet it furnishes not only direct
proofs of tho existence of mental and phys
ical infirmities, but also indirectly de-
notes PERSONS healthy condition.
! I know many women who have lived
through all sorts of distress and troubles
without a hair in their head changing
color while others likewise affected turned
gray at the sides and the fore part Of their
head at an early age and in short time.
What does it provef Simply that the
first mentioned parties retained their
equilibrium, their joyous disposition.
while their friends gave way under the
burden.-Professor Pohl, NJ. D., In st.
Louis Dispatch.
Kansas.
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