168 Dr }3idder's Bemarks on the Origin, 



believe, however, that Gurlt has only had before him the cells 

 of the epithelium of the capsule, for the cells of the hair itself 

 are much darker. This middle portion of the pulp possesses 

 a certain fragility and brittleness, inasmuch as, by pressm-e, it 

 is easily separated longitudinally, as well as transversely, into 

 several pieces, at whose edges the fibrous structure can be very 

 distinctly discerned. A slight pressure separates also this 

 middle portion of the pulp from a third portion, which lies 

 next the actual hair, but is distinguished from it by greater 

 breadth and softness. The brittleness at this point is also the 

 cause that in drawing out the hair the whole pulp but rarely 

 follows it ; whereas this third portion, which belongs more to 

 the true hair, always accompanies it. This .portion, which 

 alone should receive the name of bulb {Haarzwiehet), exhi- 

 bits at its broken end a similar fibrous structure to the mid- 

 dle portion of the pulp ; only the cellular bodies here are finer 

 and narrower, so that for the most part the outlines of the 

 cellular membrane and of the nucleus can no longer be dis- 

 tinguished, and they appear merely as oval bodies. The fibres 

 are then uninterruptedly continued into the actual hair, and 

 run towards the extremity . parallel to one another. If the 

 observer has once convinced himself of this passage, then in 

 the wholly developed hair-cylinder, at least at its commence- 

 ment after moistening with acetic acid, the cellular bodies can 

 be recognised as dark points,* and even sometimes the con- 

 tinuations are clearly distinguishable as dark lines. 



We may, therefore, conclude, that the hair throughout con- 

 sists of an aggregation of longitudinal fibres, and results from 

 thread-like rows of cells, which gradually advance from the 

 bottom of the pulp to the end of the hair itself, but which in 

 this course undergo essential changes in their size, form, &c., 

 while the cytoblastema^ occurring between them, seems always 

 to become more dried-in and firmer ; we may also, therefore, 

 conclude that the developed hair is uniform throughout its 

 whole mass ; that it presents no difi^erence between its external 

 and internal portions, and that in it no pith and external coat- 

 ing can be distinguished. The task, however, still remained 



♦ Vidi Gurlt's figure, Plate XII. Fig. 0. C. of the paper previously quotedi 



