DB. GUY ON A SINGULAR COLOURING OF THE HUMAN HAIR. 41 



Note on a singular case of Colouring of the Human Hair. By 

 William A. Gut, M.B. Extracted from a Letter addressed 

 to the President. 



[Eead April 7th, 1857.] 



A turner of the name of Ford, employed by the Government to 

 turn several thousands of round rulers for the army in the 

 Crimea, presented himself in the laboratory of King's College one 

 day, in great distress. He was called upon to attend a funeral, 

 and was scandalized at his somewhat ridiculous appearance in 

 consequence of the curious green tint of his hair. Our people 

 in the laboratory washed his head witli all the common reagents 

 which occurred to them, but without eifect. Being informed of 

 this curious fact, and being interested in it as having some sort of 

 bearing on the question of identification, I called on Mr. Ford, and 

 found him in the state described. His hair, which is naturally a 

 light chestnut, was changed, except towards the roots, of a bright 

 yellow-green, with a very decided and curious green tint. His 

 children, whose hair is of a similar tint, were similarly affected. 

 He told me that his hair and that of his family had always been 

 affected in the same way when engaged in turning rulers from the 

 wood known as green ebony — a wood, as he says, generally used for 

 that purpose. His wife's hair, which is black, is not subject to 

 any change. The exposed parts of the skin undergo the same 

 change of colour, as does the urine. He also told me that one of 

 his children was born with a very remarkably deep-green tinted 

 skin, which disappeared in time. As one of our porters passes 

 Broad Street, I send you a specimen I have had put up, showing 

 a bit of the wood, a tube-full of turnings, and three specimens of 

 hair — the two on the left showing the natural colour of the hair of 

 Mr. Ford and one of his children, the specimens on the right the 

 same hair discoloured by the wood, and a single specimen from his 

 own head, showing the usual colour at the root, and the green 

 tint towards the points. The appearance of the whole head, 

 and the contrast of the roots with the rest of the hair, are much 

 more striking than the specimen itself might lead you to expect. 



King's College, London, 

 January 27th, 1857. 



LINN. PROC. — ZOOLOGY. 



