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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



to buy what we do not want, or being tor- 

 tured with wretched music and then asked 

 to pay for the infliction. These things and 

 many others of like nature produce more or 

 less mental irritation, according to the sensi- 

 tiveness of the individual, and help to make 

 up the too great load which the nerves of 

 city dwellers have to bear. 



Still another injurious influence, more simi- 

 lar to those mentioned by Dr. Piatt, comes 

 from the frequent startling by sudden noises, 

 or the sudden appearance of danger in city 

 streets. As Dr. Piatt pointed out, the noises 

 of a city are legion. Many of these are so loud 

 and abrupt as to cause a momentary fright ; 

 for instance, the crash of wagons and cars 

 in collision, the striking and scraping of the 

 hoofs of horses struggling for a footing on a 

 slippery pavement, the fall of cases, barrels, 

 iron rails, etc., being unloaded from trucks, 

 the blasting for the foundations of build- 

 ings (in the outskirts of the city), and other 

 noises, which, while no one may occur often, 

 together make up a large aggregate. In ad- 

 dition to these startling sounds, the city 

 dweller is continually receiving impressions 

 of impending dauger through the eye. Among 

 these are the causes of the noises just men- 

 tioned, if they are close at hand — the top- 

 pling wagons, the plunging horses, and the 

 boxes of goods and pieces of building-mate- 

 rial escaping from the hands of workmen. 

 Also may be mentioned recklessly driven 

 vehicles, coming upon a foot-passenger from 

 behind at street-crossings ; the sudden ap- 

 pearance close to one's face of a long pole, 

 gas-pipe, or other burden carried on the 

 shoulder of a man along a crowded side- 

 walk ; and many similar things incidental to 

 the compressed activity of a city. The shock 

 to the nerve-centers which these moment- 

 ary frights give, and the nervous strain 

 which the city dweller endures from keeping 

 a lookout for such dangers, can not fail to 

 impair the strength of the nervous system. 

 Through the nerves an injurious influence is 

 exerted upon the heart also. Sudden fright, 

 or other violent emotion, disturbs the work- 

 ing of the heart, and often so far arrests its 

 action as to produce fainting, while cases of 

 immediate death from this cause have been 

 known. Even when the fright is not serious, 

 the cumulative effect of being startled so 

 often must contribute to the growing fre- 

 quency with which the city dweller " breaks 

 down but doesn't wear out." 



Frederik a. Fernald. 

 Nkw Yoek, July 18, 188S. 



THEORIES OF THE CAUSES OF BALDNESS, 

 Editor Popular Science Slonthly : 



From time to time I have noticed theories 

 expressed in the '* Monthly," setting forth 

 the chief causes of baldness, such as abnor- 

 mal heat from the head-cover, " constriction 

 of the blood-vessels of the head by tight 

 hats," by Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gouinlock. Prof. 



T. Wesley Mills holds that " the principal 

 root of the trouble is in nervous strain." 

 All these theories may have something to 

 do with the loss of hair. I am not about 

 to discuss these several theories, or suggest 

 one myself, but will only endeavor to point 

 out a few facts which may be interesting as 

 bearing upon the subject. During several 

 years' residence in Hong-Kong, in my profes- 

 sional duties I had to do with a goodly 

 number of persons, representing a large va- 

 riety of nationalities, and in my study of 

 these people I found that many theories de- 

 duced from local experiences at home were, 

 in some cases at least, hardly broad enough 

 to cover all facts found at large in nature 

 bearing upon the specific points of investi- 

 gation. Familiar with some of the popular 

 theories as to the cause of baldness, I was 

 surprised to find men who always wore a 

 covering to their heads, and during business 

 hours and always when out of doors wore a 

 very tight hat, were never bald, and pos- 

 sessed a wonderfully strong, thick head of 

 hair. I refer to the Parsees (Persians). There 

 is a sacred, religious law among them that 

 no man shall go with his head uncovered. 

 When the Mohammedans invaded Persia, the 

 major part of the native Persians that were 

 not exterminated fled farther east into In- 

 dia, found protection and a welcome home 

 among the Hindoos, a people of castes, and, 

 in order that these strangers should always 

 be identified, also knowing that their religion 

 obliged them to wear a head-cover, a law was 

 passed to compel all Parsees (Persians) * to 

 wear a certain style of hat whenever ex- 

 posed outside of their own private home. 

 The hat prescribed is as tall as an American 

 silk hat with no brim; it truly might be 

 called a "stove-pipe." This hat is worn, 

 inclining backward on the head from thirty- 

 five to forty degrees, and, in order to keep 

 it on its place, the rim is made to cling very 

 close to the head ; being so tight and so con- 

 stantly worn, quite a deep depression is 

 caused substantially around the head ; it 

 seemed as if the skull might be involved, 

 but, not having the opportunity of examining 

 one, I was not able to fully determine. When- 

 ever this hat is removed, a skull-cap imme- 

 diately takes its place. In my professional 

 duties, these hats often had to be removed, 

 and it appeared to me as a curious fact — if 

 some of the popular theories were altogether 

 true — that these people should never be bald. 

 Therefore, I instituted a series of strict in- 

 quiries. Many of these gentlemen spoke 

 English intelligently, also French, German, 

 Persian, and their local Hindoo dialect, some 

 of whom kindly allowed an examination of 

 their heads, and also assured me that they 

 had never known one of their race that was 

 bald. G. 0. Rogers. 



City op Mexico, April 19, 1868. 



♦ The term Parsee (Porsian) is used in oontradis- 

 tinetloD to thGlnvadin?Mi)haramodan Persians, who 

 are now habitants of the country. 



