Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-02-20
MIcRoBEs IND GR4r H4IR.
A French scientists Theory ON subje
Interesting to MANY.

- <S+-1'' -
A French Scientists Theory ON a Subject
Interesting to Many.
New York Herald
NV hair is gray, but not with years:
Nor grew il white
In a single night
As men $ have grown from sudden fear.
Prisoner of Chillon.
I'oor Bonnivardl Lord Byron hero
thought he knew u few things about
gray hair and the causes thereof After
naming the several things that did not
turn his hair gray. he goes on in the
poem to tell how it did happen. No
doubt both he and Lord Byron thought
they were right, but in the matter of
gray hair, it seems they were mere
tyros.
Perhaps. gentle reader, you think
you know why your own hair begins 70
show silver threads prnmatllreiy If
course. But thn c6dnces are thaS YOU
are hardly more upto@lata on that
subject, scientifically speaking, thar
were Downward and Byron.
Do not let ii jar You, " then. wher
the news is broken to you gently that,
according to a learned Phrisian sEianu,
this is another case of microhe. There
is, il seems, an infinitesilral creatusn
whose particular delight it is 10 eet
the coluring pigment out Of your once
| glossy or raven locks.
| He is not fastidious as to the exact
color Of the pigment, but pigment he
must have. He takes it rs his steady
diet and you cannot hope to lure him
away with truIiies, fresh mushrooms,
terrapin or lobster la Nawburg. He
simply dotes on the black and nut
| brown varieties of pigment and de
YOURS them with validity, but he is not
| at all averse to the more blonde tints,
and even auburn Titan or plain red is
not danger signal in his eye.
Once he gets to work IN your hair,
no matter what its pristine color may
| have been, he Just eats and eats until
the pigment is all out Of it, and then,
of course, it is gray or white.
Our knowledge Of this miserah!s
creature is limited at present To this;
cable dispatch from Paris
IN. MptchnikotT, bacteriologist,
saws he has discovered tbs cansa of
hair turning gray. He ascrbes it TO il
bacillus which devnnrs the coloring
pigment. He has christcned this pig
metophagus. He says il is q voracious
feeder and proliferates with an activity
approXimating perpetual motion. The
strong vital resistance of youth keeps
it down, but low vitality arising from
care, grief, moral shock or sedentari
ness fayors its growth and multipli
cation. NJ. Matchnikotf is studying
means to combat it. -
Anti toxins have accomplished mUth,
and since the comb, the shampoo, ltil,
liantine and hirsute tonics are alike
| c,,N l., In Iat1f hot
we may yet have on the market an
, anti toxin for gray hair? Then, per.
chance, slight vaccination of the
scalp or the upper lip at the first signs
) Of deterioration may prove as eff
r cacious in preserving the pristine
) beauty of ones locks rs is bovine
| virus in averting smallpox.
5 DIR. Ferdinand NJ. Jetfries, bacteria
/ logical expert, land vice president d
! the Institute of Chemistry, Pathology,
t and Bacteriology, looked up from /
1 microscope in his laboratory in the
A Polytechnic Hospital, in East Thirty
fourth street, and scanned the CABLE
Q dispatch with interest
: Il have never before seen just tina
: theory advanced to account for gra,
I hair said Prof Jeffries, but if NJ
r Metchnkoff really authorized such
: statement it is to be accepted with thu
: weight to which his high reputation
t as bacteriologist entities his utter
It ancaS.
"Metchnikoff himself is all right
t and this may be said to be 'importan
y if true but should like to knoy
! more about it through the channels 0
$ the scientific and medical journal
a before venturing to comment upon i
d in detail.
o "Of course. it is the pigment whicl
3 gives to hair its color, just as does tn
If pigment in the eye or in the skin. A
|. albino lacks the usual pigment in eye
1t and hair, and so the hair is colorles
e and the eyes are a lustreless pink, Til
L loss of the pigment in the hair
d commonly attributed at present t
b structural deterioration, which may
20 due to age or to other causes. ?"