OF THE HAIR. Every part of our frame deserves to be attentively considered and investigated. The hair, which is found in various form and quantity, over nearly the whole external surface, might seem at first view an excresence hardly worthy of notice. We are soon struck, however, with the contrast between man and animals, in respect to this growth; with its general abundance over the whole body in the latter, and the comparative nakedness of the former; while in the head these proportions are reversed, and its copious and long growth, to which there is nothing parallel in animals, forms a distinguished and peculiar ornament, imparting a character of dignity and majesty to the human head. It presents, again, well-marked varieties in the different races of men: compare the short woolly knots on the head of the genuine Negro, or the coarse, straight and thin hair of an American or Mongolian, together with their beardless faces, to the ample growth of fine and undulated locks, and the full beard which so gracefully adorn the head and face of the Caucasian races. The physiologist will be interested in examining the relation between the hair and the integuments; and in noticing the sexual distinctions which are more or less strongly marked by_this production.

Each individual hair, apparently, is composed of a liquid substance, secreted in the cutis vera, or inner skin, proceed

ing through the pores of the cuticula, or outer skin, exhaled by the heat of the body to the surface, and thus condensed in passing through the pores, it then becomes hair; and each hair, when properly supplied with this nourishment, is extremely firm in those pores.

The celebrated Albertus Magnus affirms, that the brain is divested of gross humor, choler or phlegm, which pass through the exterior flesh and becomes dry, and are converted into hair.'

That illustrious anatomist, Chesseldon, asserts, 'that each hair is nourished from materia perspirabelis.' Perspirable matter which forms the root, forms it in various shapes, some bulbous, and some very long and thick, exactly like the root of a tree, owing to the plenitude of nourishment it receives. The perspirable matter issuing from the pores of the outer skin, becomes very hard and callous, and is formed into hair.

As soon as the moisture gets above the skin, it forms an oval, square or round; and according to the supply of nutriment, so it grows quickly to a prodigious length, or slowly and keeps short. Each hair has been generally understood to be hollow; but it is not entirely so, but consists of a number of fibres, which are distinctly seen with the microscope. Although its coat is callous, still it is so transparent, that these fibres may be distinctly seen. The external part of each hair, from root to point, is covered with a hard coat, resembling the bark of trees, with thorns projecting exactly like a briar; others exactly like a fish, covered with scales approximating to each other, and with a sharp point; some of these scales are more distant, and in an erect position: most of these hairs have lumps exactly like the warts that grow on trees, interspersed with medullary cells, or valves, all forming a beautiful appearance. Although each hair is covered with these different coats, still they are in many parts transparent. In the light, these scales, warts, briars, &c. all bear a different shade, which gives to each hair a beautiful silver or gold hue, which is often observed by the naked eye: for instance, the divine Milton expressed himself thus

'Half her breast

Naked met his under the flowing gold

Of her loose tresses hid.'

In fine, the whole of the hair when viewed through the microscopic glass, forms an elegant and interesting, as well as a most pleasing subject for the reflecting mind.

Thus nature in all her operations, even to the minute object

of a single hair-evinces the wisdom of the Great Architect of the universe.

'Nature all o'er is consecrated ground,

Teeming with growth immortal and divine.'

The scales lay on each hair in a slanting direction, from root to point, which may be distinguished in the following

manner :

Take a single hair and grasp it by the root in one hand, and draw it through the fingers of the other from root to point, and no resistance will be felt; but pass it in the same manner from point to root, and a tumultuous resistance will be perceived, and a noise distinctly heard.

By the same experiment, the root from the point may be distinguished when the root happens to be cut off: and the coarser the hair is, the more perceptible is the friction.

The above observations will demonstrate, that the hair from the root upward is in some parts hollow, which give the tone which may be plainly perceived by the microscope. Some hairs are square and others round, which is anatomically accounted for from the size of the pores of the outer skin from which they issue; though some writers have affirmed that more hairs than one issue from each pore. But it has been demonstrated by the microscope, that when these hairs are found to have branches, it is through their wasting or decay; when that is the case, the hairs seldom have any root, but will comb off easy; when the root comes off with the hair, it is then evident that the pores are open. Therefore it appears to be according to the size of the pore that they are square or round.

The coarser hairs are square, and along the hairs both square and round, are dark lines, and upon more minutely examining them with the microscope, these lines appear to be fibres united with each other, throughout each hair. These observations are corroborated by Leuwenhoek, who observes-'On examining hairs which have been recently plucked out, I have seen with the microscope several distinct small fibres, uniting and forming at the bottom of the hair; I have no doubt a great many more would have been perceptible, had they not been broken off. These fibres were transparent.'

The above remarks evidently show that the hair receives nourishment, and that hair which receives the most, has an additional brilliancy and strength.

It is well known that fear and terror cause the hair to stand erect. This is occasioned by the heat proceeding from the

outward part of the body to the heart; the pores being shut, the hair assumes an erect position.

In the Book of Job, Eliphaz, in his description of a supernatural appearance, observes- Then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up.'

In the passion of anger, the manner in which the hair is affected, adds to its terrific appearance; as finely delineated in the following lines of the celebrated Scottish bard:'Fierce was her look, and stern her air,

Back from her shoulders streamed her hair;
The locks that wont her brow to shade,
Stared up erectly from her head.'

The hair spreads according to the form of the skull and the position of the muscles, and it has a wonderful influence on the countenance. The celebrated physiognomist of Switzerland, Lavator, makes the following remarks on this subject :— 'As is the hair, so the muscles; as the muscles, so the nerves; as the nerves, so the bones: their powers are mutual; and the powers of the mind to act, suffer, receive, and give proportionate.'

The colorless Albino has a soft white hair. In the first, or white variety of the human species, every gradation from the fair to the dark is accompanied by correspondent alterations in the tint of the hair. This is true, not only of nations, but of individuals in the white races. A light complexion and thin skin are accompanied with delicate fair or red hair; a dark one and thick skin with black hair, almost invariably, even in individuals of the same family; a difference which, according to the philosophy of some writers, would be a sufficient ground for classing them in distinct species.

The four colored varieties of men have black hair, which is always stronger and coarser in texture than in the whites. This difference is particularly noticed by the Chinese, who contemptuously compare the hair of Europeans to the soft fur of the smaller animals. In Negroes, native Americans, and New Zealanders, the texture is much stronger than in the darkest Europeans. A striking proof that the color of the hair depends on that of the skin, is afforded by the spotted Africans, in whom the hairs growing out of a white patch on the head are white.

The principal differences of the hair may be brought under the following heads :

BLACK OR DARK BROWN HAIR. The color of the hair depends principally on the quality of the nourishment. Black or dark brown hair, is caused by a redundance of nutriment.

The choleric phlegm, or ebullition of humidity, with which it is fed, being of a cold nature, and the pores open and moist, therefore the hair acquires great strength.

The ancient Britons had principally black and dark brown hair. The hair of the females grew to an immense length: their skin was peculiarly fair. Indeed, even to this day, a lady with long black hair, and a fair skin, is termed an old English beauty, alluding to the aboriginal British females.

The Chinese ladies have hair as black as jet, fastened in a knot at the crown of the head, and decorated with a variety of artificial flowers.

The natives of Macassar in the East Indies, have long black hair and curly, which is occasioned by the attention they pay to it, applying oil to it from infancy.

The black hair of some of the Indian tribes grows to a prodigious length; and is so strong that it has exactly the consistency of horse hair; but square, and not in the least inclined to curl. Barrington, in his description of the natives of New South Wales, informs us, that their hair is short, strong and curly; and as they have no method of combing or cleaning it, it is always filthy and matted; the men's beards are short and curly like the hair of their heads.'

The inhabitants of the island of Pugniatan, in the East Indies, have very long hair, black and straight, and the women' have no eye-brows.

The women of Java are of a light brown complexion; their features regular, and their hair very long. The Malays of Malacca have long black and shining hair, which changes to gray at an early period; and the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru have very long black hair. The women of Circassia, so famed for their beauty, for their exquisitely fine features, and the inimitable fairness of their skin, white as snow, have hair of an incomparable elegant black hue.

Black hair has ever been held in the highest estimation. In the Song of Solomon we find black hair peculiarly specified as beautiful-'His head is of the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.'

In the popular ballad of Cymon and Iphigenia, we find the following passage:

"Thy jetty locks that careless break

In wanton ringlets down thy neck,
Become thy smiling mien.'

Black hair characterized the prophetic virgins of the Druids.

'Her sable hair its ringlets spread,

Convolved like snakes around.'