SUDDEN WHITENING OF THE HAIR. 5,23 



a workman falling with him was impaled upon a strong iron spike 

 supporting the scenery. In ten minutes or so they reached the ground, 

 the workman dead, the singer dazed, but able to thank Heaven on his 

 knees for his escape ; and then the awe-stricken people saw that the 

 black-haired deity had become transformed into a white-haired mortal, 

 whose youthful features formed a strange contrast to their venerable- 

 looking crown. 



Staff-surgeon Parry, while serving in India during the Mutiny, saw 

 a strange sight. Among the prisoners taken in a skirmish at Chamda 

 was a sepoy of the Bengal army. He was broitght before the authori- 

 ties, and put to the question. Fully alive to his position, the Bengalee 

 stood almost stupefied with fear, trembling greatly, with horror and 

 despair plainly depicted on his countenance. While the examination 

 was proceeding, the by-standers were startled by the sergeant in charge 

 of the prisoner exclaiming, " He is turning gray ! " All eyes were 

 turned on the unfortunate man, watching with wondering interest the 

 change coming upon his splendid, glossy, jet-black locks. In half an 

 hour they were of a uniform grayish hue. 



Some years ago a young lady who was anxiously awaiting the com- 

 ing of her husband-elect, received a letter conveying the sad tidings 

 of his shipwreck and death. She instantly fell to the ground insen- 

 sible, and so remained for five hours. On the following morning, her 

 sister saw that her hair, which had been previously of a rich brown 

 color, had become as white as a cambric handkerchief, her eyebrows 

 and eyelashes retaining their natural color. After a while the whit- 

 ened hair fell off, and was succeeded by a new growth of gray. This 

 case coming under the observation of Dr. Erasmus Wilson, shattered 

 his unbelief in the possibility of the sudden conversion of the hair 

 from a dark color to snow-white. No man knows more about the hair 

 than Dr. Wilson ; but he is at a loss to explain the phenomenon quite 

 to his own satisfaction. " If," says he, " it be established that the hair 

 is susceptible of permeation by fluids derived from the blood a trans- 

 mission of fluids from the blood-vessels of the skin into the substance 

 of the hair really occurs, the quantity and nature being modified by 

 the peculiarity of constitution or state of health of the individual it 

 follows that such fluids, being altered in their chemical qualities, may 

 possess the power of impressing new conditions on the structure into 

 which they enter. Thus, if they contain an excess of salts of lime, 

 they may deposit salts of lime in the tissue of the hair, and so produce 

 a change in its appearance from dark to gray." Then he tells us : 

 ' The phenomenon may be the result of electrical action ; it may be the 

 consequence of a chemical alteration wrought in the very blood itself, 

 or it may be a conversion for which the tissue of the hair is chiefly 

 responsible." So many "may-bes " from such an authority prove that 

 the mystery of the sudden whitening of the hair is yet unsolved. It 

 is likely to remain unsolved, since the doctor more modest than 



