8o 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



merit, the bald-headed element was considerably larger. Of two nights 

 when Patti sang at the Boston Theatre there were forty-six per cent 

 of bald heads on one occasion and forty-two on the other. When De 

 Lussan appeared in " Fra Diavolo " I discovered thirty-eight per cent 

 of baldness, and at one of Matthew Arnold's lectures there were forty- 

 six per cent. In fact, out of hundreds of observations, extending over 

 several years, I have found that the higher the price of admission, and 

 presumably the more refining nature of the performance, the larger the 

 per cent of bald heads. One night I counted the occupants of a few 

 settees in my immediate vicinity at an exhibition which John L. Sul- 

 livan gave at the Mechanics' Fair Building, and was surprised to find 

 that less than twelve per cent of the men were bald. As this was a 

 show where the spectators had the privilege of retaining or discarding 

 their hats at pleasure, I think it was not a fair test. 



In large cities, where over one half of the population is under 

 thirty years of age, and where half of those who attend places of 

 amusement can safely be placed at less than forty years, these facts 

 are certainly interesting to every person who wishes to know what 

 kind of a looking person the coming man is going to be. It is not 

 uncommon to see men under thirty years of age whose crowns are 

 totally denuded of hair. In one store in New York city are twelve 

 shipping-clerks, all under forty years of age, and seven of them are 

 bald, while two more are vainly trying to prevent baldness by using 

 hair-restorers. There are more bald-headed men in Boston than there 

 are who have black or red hair. Next to the brown heads, the bald 

 heads have the largest number of representatives. In order to prove 

 this, it is only necessary to go to any party or place of amusement or 

 assemblage of any kind in New England. In my capacity as news- 

 paper reporter I attended a funeral in Beacon Street, Boston, a few 

 years ago, where the clergyman, the undertaker, and every one of 

 the mourners were bald-headed ! The only perfect head of hair I 

 saw at the house was that of the fair young girl who lay in the 

 casket. Instances showing the proneness, not only of Boston and 

 New England, but of the whole country, to become bald, could be 

 given indefinitely, but I think the foregoing will suffice. 



Now, in view of these facts, can any one say that the coming man, 

 of New England at least, will not be bald ? If not, what is the pres- 

 ent generation doing, or what can it do, to hinder such a fate ? 



The old physiological law of stock-breeding, that "like begete 

 like," applies to men as well as to animals. If men at the age when 

 they marry and begin to raise children are bald-headed, they can 

 expect their children to enjoy the traits of their sires. A father and 

 mother who become bald when young can safely predict a like result 

 for their offspring. There is no reason why bald heads should not 

 yield to the laws of heredity as much as curly heads or red heads. 

 Anything else would seem unnatural. 



