54 Transactions of the 



III. — Note on the Scalp of a Negro. 



By Chaeles Stewart, M.B.C.S., F.L.S. 



(Read before the Eoyal Microscopical Society, Jan. 1, 1873.) 

 Plate VII. 



Besides the dark colour which is seen in the skin of the Negro, and 

 which is due to extra pigmentation of the deep layer of the epi- 

 dermis, there are some peculiarities which I helieve have not been 

 noticed, or at all events are not generally known. These features 

 may be seen in vertical sections of the scalp ; but before describing 

 them perhaps I may be excused for saying a word on the principal 

 structures displayed in a similar section of the scalp of a European. 



The free surface of the epidermis will be seen to be nearly level, 

 whilst the deeper layers, or rete mucosum, will be raised by the 

 papillae, or conical elevations of the subjacent dermis. Bundles 

 consisting of five or six hairs surrounded by their follicles will 

 pursue a straight but oblique course through the greater part of 

 the thickness of the dermis, each follicle having at its base the 

 papilla upon which the hair is seated, and attached about a third of 

 the way up on its under surface the bundle of involuntary muscular 

 fibres which moves the hair. In the angle between this and the 

 hair itself will be situated the sebaceous gland. Besides these, a few 

 scattered sudoriparous glands may be noticed. 



In the Negro the scalp is altogether thinner, and of course will 

 show the pigmentation of the rete mucosum already alluded to. In 

 addition to this familiar peculiarity the hairs and follicles present 

 the following remarkable differences, viz. the portion of the hair and 

 follicle imbedded in the skin is much longer, and is also remarkably 

 curved, so that it commonly describes a half circle. The papilla at 

 the base of the follicle consequently either lies horizontally or even 

 becomes directed obliquely inwards towards the subjacent bone. In 

 other respects there is no great difference, but perhaps the sebaceous 

 gland is somewhat smaller. 



It may be suggested that some of these conditions were pro- 

 duced by the mode of preparation, but this can hardly be the case, 

 as the Negro and European scalps were prepared at the same time 

 in the same way. 



