The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-31
WHY YOUR PATE SHINES.
FrenchmRn Has at Last Discovered
the MIcrobe of Badness.


the MIcrObe of Badness.
From the New York Herald.
NJ. Sebourand. former pupil of NJ. Pas
tours school. has found the mighty mi
crobe that makes men and women lose
their hair-the little beast who is RESPONSE
bic for the shiny pate of the unfortunate
baldhead. He describes it as a minute.
colorless body, pointed at both ends, and
increasing in numbers by constant division
into two, and since the divisions do not
always Immediately break off, long chains
frequently form, each link being "a dis
uncU micrObe.
The pestiterOus organism congregates in
colonies of enormous numbers in the up
per part of the hair follicle below the cpl
dermis. and just where the sweat glands
joins the foAicle At this point there is
somewhat of an enlargement. and in this
little cavity 1t finds a convenient habitat.
Each colony is wrapped up into a kind Of
cocoon by fatty matter from the sebaceous
gland; the cocoons vary in size. and are
easy to obtain by squeezing the skin at the
mouth of a gland The coil of fatty mat
ter which is elected when a "backhead"
is forced out of the skin by pressure Is
simply an enormous cocoon holding within
II myriads of this bacterium.
The microbe of badness has been iso-
lated and grown as culture on a suita-
BILE medium, when IL appears as a color
less form, changing later into one "
brick red hue. But how is ii that this
microbe, not being at the root of the hair
but at some distance above it In The fol-
lfcle. causes the hair 10 fall out? It's
method of attack is as follows:
The development and growth OF the mi-
crobe causes certain changes IN its en-
vironment-the breaking up, for instance,
of substances around. from which 1t OBJ
tains necessary food and energy-and the
cycle of results thus brought about gives
the production of a substance poisonous
to the root of a hair. This toxin passes
down TO the root and acts as a slow poison,
not killing all at once, but inducing GER
tain characteristic symptoms; the hair be-
comes lighter In color until it's pigment
has practically disappeared Its diameter
gradually lessons, Il becomes brittle and
dried up and eventually dies and falls out.
The root, though weakened by the pois-
on sends up another hair 10 replace the
fallen one, but the new outgrowth begins
life feebler and poorer than It's predeces-
sor, 50 il, too, only with greater speed.
becomes a victim.
And so the process goes on. each sue
cessive growth starts more weakly it's
fight against the insinuating poison and
more quickly succumbs, until a point Is
reached where the root can no longer
make fresh effort, for it has also fallen
completely under the noxious influence
and Is killed. This course of events, oc-
curing as it does, simultaneously In hum
dreds Of adjacent hair follcles, naturally
results In complete badness.
To prove that this microbe Is the cause
and not merely the accompaniment of
badness, NJ. Sebourand Isolated it and cul-
tivated It In a suitable liquid. After the
microbes had multiplied and developed he
filtered the liquid through porcelain, and,
believing that If his theories were true.
the filtered liquid would contain the sub
stance they produced poisonous to the
hair, he took a rabbit and inoculated it
deeply under the skin with the fluid. As
he hoped, the rabbit speedily began 10 lose
it's fur. and in six weeks It was completely
denuded; in fact it had become entirely
bald.