296 



FEAR. 



Chap. XII. 



hair in the insane is due, not only to its erection, but to 

 its dryness and harshness, consequent on the subcutane- 

 ous glands failing to act. Dr. Bucknill has said 20 that a 



'■/■■///'/'/'■■ 



Fig. 19. — From a photograph of an insane woman, to show the condition of 



her hair. 



lunatic " is a lunatic to his finger's ends; " he might have 

 added, and often to the extremity of each particular hair. 

 Dr. Browne mentions as an empirical confirmation 

 of the relation which exists in the insane between the 

 state of their hair and minds, that the wife of a medical 

 man, who has charge of a lady suffering from acute 

 melancholia, with a strong fear of death, for herself, 

 her husband and children, reported verbally to him 

 the day before receiving my letter as follows, " I think 



Mrs. will soon improve, for her hair is getting 



smooth; and I always notice that our patients get better 

 whenever their hair ceases to be rough and unmanage- 

 able, 



» 



Dr. Browne attributes the persistently rough condi- 



20 



Quoted by Dr. Maudsley, ' Body and Mind,' 1870, p. 41. 



