rc 
—— 
281 
thereon in his “Descent of Man,”’*—to the analogies which 
he finds between the human fotus and the foetus of animals, 
and to what he says of the development of the fotus gener- 
ally. One fact, however, I would notice—that the foetus 
during the sixth month is covered by a fine wool-like hair—“the 
whole surface including even the forehead and ears is thus 
thickly clothed, but it is a significant fact that the palms of the 
hands and the soles of the feet are quite naked.” + 
Turning now to our infants, a most curious series of facts 
with regard to hairiness is met with. The infant is rarely 
born with long hair, though cases are recorded, Darwin says. 
Generally the infant is more or less covered with a fine short 
' down, which is noticeable on the face, forehead, and shoulders; 
but there is variability in this respect. On the scalp, sides and 
back of head there is usually found a distinct covering of hair, 
sometimes as much as an inch in length. 
Within about three months after birth very appreciable 
changes in the hairiness take place in our infants. There is a 
most decided reduction in the hairiness or woolliness of the 
body—so much so that only by very close attention can any hair 
be detected on many parts, for the skin appears to be smooth. 
On the forehead, however, there is a distinetly woolly coat; 
there is also a certain woolliness on the shoulders, and the back 
is more woolly than the chest and abdomen, but scarcely so 
woolly as the shoulders. 
In the first or second month after birth there is a very 
perceptible reduction of the hairy covering of the scalp—in 
fact the hair is sometimes shed to such an extent that the 
scalp appears quite bald, and this is the condition in which our 
[ * Also to Haeckel’s ‘“‘ Anthropogenie,” for very full details. ] 
t ‘Descent of Man.” 2nd Ed., p, 19, 1888. 
[ {In the two-months’-old female child of a neighbour the forehead was rather 
thickly clothed with short hair, which grew upwards; by the side of the temples 
it grew sideways. The eyebrows were little more hairy than the forehead. 
There were short black whiskers reaching to the lower jaw. The forearms were 
singularly hairy inside. ] 
