OR, A TREATISE ON PILF. 4l 
diameter, ;,5, of an inch; button, white, transparent, quill-shaped; sheath, white, 
opaque; apex, rounded; cortex, is divided by dark lines; central portion, yellow. 
See fig. 45, where No. 1 represents the cortex and the interior, where the cortex 
has been removed; No. 2, the fissure in the cortex; No. 3, grains of cortex removed from 
the stalk; No. 4, a disk; No. 5, tufts of the wool. 
OF THE INTERMEDIATE FIBROUS PART OF PiLE.—Between the cortex and the central 
portion of a perfect hair, and in the interior of an imperfect one, is found a /hrows 
substance, constituting the strength of the pile, which next demands our attention. 
Sometimes, when the cortex is sufficiently translucent, these fibres may be seen through 
it, in longitudinal striwe, extending nearly the whole length of the shaft; they are then 
most apparent near the button, and vanish as you approach the apex ; which may, possibly, 
be owing to their greater attenuation at the latter place. In an imperfect hair they extend 
to the centre of the shaft. 
Fig. 46 @ represents a hair of the Hon. Henry Clay, artificially deprived of the cortex, 
except a small portion, left purposely, for comparison. For the most part, the fibres are 
seen in fasciculus; and the few narrow strips of the cortex are identified by their trans- 
verse strie. Their diameter is 5:4, to sjy, of an inch. 
Fig. 46) represents a hair of a male white, of 25, the posterior termination of which 
has been split, and the fibrils are seen. A 
Fig 46c is a hair of a person affected with scrofula, (which was disrupted in the act of 
drawing,) showing the fibres and fibrils. 
Fig. 46d represents the fibres of a hair of the head of a Choctaw Indian, the cortex 
having been entirely artificially removed; @ and 6 are bundles of fibres; ¢ and d are 
fibrils. 
Henlé says that the fibrils of pile are flat; but we have never been able to determine the 
shape. Henle also says that they are inelastic and brittle. This does not accord with 
our experience. We submitted an inch of the hair of the head of our esteemed friend, 
Wm. F. Van Amringe, Esq., to the operation of the trichometer. It showed no disposition 
to stretch with a weight less than 290 grains, when it lengthened 4; of an inch. With 
670 grains, it stretched only 2,, and with 820 grains, only 4) of an inch; but, upon 
50 grains being added, it stretched ,4,, and with 50 more, only, it stretched 4 of an inch. 
Upon examining the facture, under the microscope, after the manipulation had been 
completed, the cause of this extraordinary progression was revealed. The cortex had 
parted in ¢wo places, corresponding to the,sudden movements above noticed. After the 
last fracture of it, the fibres (being left to bear the burthen of the weights used in the 
succeeding experiments) did not yield saddenly and break, as they ought to have done, 
had the fibrils been inelastic and brittle, as Henlé teaches; but the one inch of hair 
gradually elongated to 4° of an inch, and finally parted with 1,570 grains. 
Or a Crusuep Hair.—Fie. 47 represents a hair of His Excellency General Andrew 
g p Mf 
Jackson, artificially crushed so as to expose the fibrous construction; a, the crushed portion, 
has a diameter of ,!, part of an inch, while 4, the hair in its normal condition, is only y4y. 
