101 



it. Occasionally they are met with on the same level. The epidermic 

 funnel comes low down into the skin, and its reflection on to the stem 

 can readily be detected in each hair. Each is furnished with a pair of 

 oil glands, which, by their opacity — and their frequently covering the 

 bulb, render an examination difficult. 



The capillar scales are very strongly developed near the roots, where 

 they appear as large as in the racoon. Each bulb is invested with an 

 independent rete mucomm which, though cellular at first, becomes 

 rapidly fibrous — little colouring matter and no medulla is to be seen. 



The hair is in all cases solid above the bulb, and only becomes cellular 

 after it reaches the surface of the skin. The number of cells and the 

 size of the hair is often greater at a distance from the skin than near 

 tlie root. 



All the bulbs are contained in a single cuticular investment, and are 

 evidently capable of indefinite multiplication. 



The number of hairs in one follicle, and their consequent small 

 adhesion to the true skin, will explain the facility with which fur is torn 

 from the rabbit or the hare. 



The hair of the dog is grouped like that of other animals, as many as 

 fifteen or more usually coming out of the same spot in the epidermis. 

 Small and crowded at their orifice, they are spread out at their roots. 

 Each has a separate set of coats ; the inner sheath may easily be traced 

 from the epidermis, and the middle and outer ones correspond, as in tlie 

 human being, with the rete miicosum and cutis vera. 



In one specimen I examined, where the colour appeared black to the 

 naked eye, but where it was, in reality, only an intense brown, the pig- 

 mentary matter was very abundant in the bulb, which was also dilated, 

 and in many instances opaque. Two hairs seemed, in some places, to 

 have a common origin, rising like the letter v, but this was not by any 

 means usual. 



The quantity of oil globules around the base of these hairs makes 

 maceration in ether necessary before a full view can be got of the 

 appearance of the hair follicles and their contents. 



Haii-s grow chiefly from their roots, being constantly elongated by 

 fresh increments to their bulbous extremity. In this they resemble 

 bonis, hoofs, and nails. 



But, that this is not the only way in which they grow, we have seen in 

 the hare, shrew, mole, and others, where cells become developed after 

 the hair has left the skin. 



It is usually received as an imdoubted fact, that human hair is capable 

 of undergoing a cliange of foi-m at a considerable distance from the bulb, 

 viz. that cut hail's will in time become pointed. 



