144 



Yield oxalis 

 acid.bittersub- 

 stancc, iron, 

 and sulphur. 



In red hair less 

 iron, more sul- 

 phur. 



Oxigenated 

 muriatic acid 

 gas. 



Destructive 

 distillation. 



Incineration. 



Alcohol ex- 

 tracts two oils 

 from black 

 hair^— 



aivd from red 



but different. 



ON HUMAN IlAlIt. 



of a gentle heat. The solution exhibits on its surface a 

 black oil, if the hair were of that colour, and a red oil if 

 the hail" were red. Both these oils ultimately grow 

 white, and become concrete on cooling. 



This same solution, properly evaporated, ailords much 

 oxalic acid; and the uncrystallizable mother water con- 

 tains the bitter substance, a great deal of iron, and sul- 

 phuric acid arising from the sulphur of the hair. 



The solution of red hair in nitric acid contains less iron, 

 but mor(i.sulphurlc acid, tlian that of black hair. 



Oxigenated muriatic acid gas at first whitens hair, soon 

 after softens it, and reduces it to the form of a tiscous 

 and transparent paste like tQrpentine. This is bitter and 

 partly soluble in water, partly in alcohol. 



From hair subjected to the action of fire in a close 

 apparatus 1 have obtained the same products as from any 

 Other animal substance, with this difference, that it fur- 

 nislies more sulphur, and gives out very little gas. It 

 leaves in the retort twcnfy-eight or thirty hundredth part 

 of coal. 



By incineration they yielded iron and manganese, 

 which impart a brown yellow colour to the ashes ; phos- 

 phate, sulphate, and carbonate of lime ; a little muriate 

 of soda; and a considerable portion of silcx. The 

 ashes of red hair arc less coloured, because they contain 

 less iron and manganese; those of white hair likewise 

 contain less, but we find in them a great deal of magnesia, 

 at least a great deal witli respect to the other principles, 

 for hair scarcely yields above '015 of ashes. 



Alcohol extracts from black hair two kinds of oil : 

 the one white, which on cooling subsides in the form of 

 little shining scales, the other, which separates as the 

 alcohol evaporates, is of a greyish green hue, and ulti- 

 mately becomes concrete also. 



Red hair likewise affords a white concrete oil like sper- 

 maceti, bat the alcohol on evaporation lets fall another 

 oil as red as blood. What is remarkable and interesting 

 in this experiment is, that the reddest hair subjected to it 

 becomes of a deep brown or chesnut colour ; whence I 

 conclude, that the colour of red hair is owing to the 

 presence of this oil. 



From 



