The Washington times., 1915-05-28

~ ONE wag has foolishly explained
why Olivia in Shakespeare's
~ Twelfth Night omitted to men
ton her HAIR in her description
of her comeliness. He says she was
gray-haired. 1t will be recalled that
Olivia Is, made to say: -.
Il will give out divers scheduled of
my beauty. 1t shall be inveptoried. and
every particle. and utensil, labeled to
my will as: Item. two lips Indifferent
red; item. two gray eyes, with lids to
them; item, one neck. one chin, and
SO forth" .'-
His reason for maintaining that beau
tiful Olivia had gray or white hair was
because she had gray eyes and no mem
| tion Is made of the hair, the most i'm
portant of all individual feminine dis
tinctions. OF course, the whole idea is
far-fetched.
Gray or white hair Is always the con-
| tain. The several causes are never to
be called in ignorance nervous shock"
| nervousness" functional nervous dis
| ease. nervous exhaustion" 'old age
| or seniity." Though the hair turns
| white over ,night-which It sometimes
does-it is not due to nerves" Nor
| when white hair or grayness comes
slowly as an associate of paralysis" "
| 'apresis, 'locomOtor ataXia" or 'arte-
rio-sclorosis'' is 1t Justly attributable to
| nervous diseases" The truth is far
| from this.
| 1t is strange. but true, for truth is
| always strange-stranger than fiction
that gray hair is the result Of internal,
| sel!-generated poisons. as well as the
| poisons Of microbes and bacteria. de-
fective food. bad water. and bad air.
! What actually takes place In the dark,
| golden or brown hair when It turns
..,a zI.e
ly described by different observers
Metchnikoff. the Franco Russian sa-
want. holds that great white Corpuscles
from the blood and LYMPH make their
| way into the hairs and gobhle up the
brown black. chestnut. or red pigment
| Another investigator has noticed thai
bubbles OF carbonic acid gas, air. and
even oxygen are present ir the white
hairs Fatty degeneration also make!
the hair look gray and white by virtue
of the globules of oil present.
Recent experiments show that " tht
dark hairs are bathed and kept In fresl
iuices Of such tissues as the thyroid
suprareral. and other so-Called glands
of the animal anatomy, the color fade
fror the hair. no matter what Its orig
inal tint or shade,
In fine. this explains why sever
shock or fright or other sudden mis-
Of the hair It Is absolutely not "ner
vousness," because such emotions as
have often described and insisted upo
are the upshot Of an excessive outpour
:, ing of these internal Juices.
: To be sure, there are other causes c
white hair. such the injury to sue
glands. the inheritance of a dispositio
to pour out TOO many tissue fluids. tn
poisons Of many maladies. defectiv
! changes in the blood. and even in tn
proteins Of some foods.
Moreover. these discoveries about tn
| internal origin Of silvery locks prov
, | that old age Is not the cause. nor
, premature senility or nervous disease
responsible. All Of these are few {
the effects Of high blood pressure. .ju!
az grayness itself Is. Indeed, a basis {
support for these new facts Is also I
be found in the observation that som
| very Young and vigorous persons Al
gray and gray hairs sometimes Of the'
| own initiative without charcoal past
burned cork or harmless stains. aga
become united with their original pil
| ments.