12 The Rev. P. Keith on the Structure of Animals, 



being done up in a great variety of ways, so as to please all 

 tastes and all fancies : — 



Cmflavam religa5 comam. 

 Simplex munditiis? — Hon., lib. i. ode v. 



Yet sometimes crops are the fashion, and sometimes wigs; 

 but nobody chooses a red wig, as I believe. There seems, in- 

 deed, to be a prejudice against red hair in any shape what- 

 ever. It is alleged, but how truly I cannot say, to have some 

 intimate connexion with the temperament of the body, causing 

 a fetid and disagreeable odour. In man, black hair is sup- 

 posed to be expressive of strength; in woman, of vivacity : 

 whilst in woman, the blond is thought to be expressive of 

 delicacy, and in man, of I know not what, that is devoted to 

 pleasure. So says Bichat*. The beard is peculiar to males. 

 Christians shave it; Jews suffer it to grow. It appears at the 

 age of puberty, of which it is a sign. It is shorter than the 

 hair of the head, as well as more given to curl, and its colour 

 is generally either black or red. 



Lastly, if we regard the head as being the seat of the organs 

 of sense, we shall find its preeminence above all the other 

 parts of the human fabric to be most signally demonstrated. 

 First, as containing the eye, the organ of vision, which, sta- 

 tioned like the sentinel in his watch-tower, surveys from its 

 lofty height the objects placed around it, and unfolds to the 

 individual the beauties of the external world. Cicero seems 

 to have been duly impressed with a conviction of this truth 

 when he wrote the following sentence : " Nam occult tanquam 

 speculatores, altissimujn locum ohtinent, ex quo plurima conspi- 

 cientes, funguntur suo munere\f — 'For thus the eyes, placed 

 like sentinels on a watch-tower, discharge their function with 

 an extended sphere of vision.' Secondly, as containing the 

 ear, the organ of hearing, calculated to receive the impres- 

 sions of sound, to give us notice of the approach of external 

 objects, and to enable us to appreciate the value of tones, 

 whether they be the modulations of music, or the articulations 

 of a spoken language. Thirdly, as containing the nose, the 

 organ of smell, and source of balmy delights, projecting, as 

 Haller observes, " like an engine in the air J," to arrest and 

 collect the perfumes, sweets, and odours that are exhaled 

 from the treasures of Flora, and wafted on the winds. Fourth- 

 ly, as containing the tongue, the organ of taste, and with the 

 mouth the arbiter of savours, discriminating between the clean 

 and the unclean, the noxious and the wholesome, the produc- 



* Anal. Gen. Si/st. Dermoid. f De Nat. JJeur. 



J First Lines, by Cullcii, sect. 465. 



