45 TRICILIOLOGIA MAMMALIUM; 
let him pick one of these with a needle, and the end of a hair (the body of which hes 
under the epidermis) will obtrude. With a pair of tweezers, this new hair may be drawn 
out to a considerable length. In a section of the skin these young hairs may be detected, 
partly coiled, the apices seeking their way, as it were, through the epidermis, by one of 
these pores. But all this is entirely at variance with the notion that the follicle is formed 
‘by an inward turning of the cutis and is lined by a reflection of the epidermis. 
Of Pile without a Follicle —But it can be demonstrated that the idea of the follicle being 
formed by the turning inwardly of the dermis is chimerical: Ist. By the hair of the head 
of the foetus. We have, in our cabinet, a foetus of three months, upon whose head is no 
hair; we have another of five months, upon whose head there are hairs, but none of them 
have either button or follicle.* (See fig. 52a.) We have a third specimen of hairs from 
a full-grown foetus, which was taken, dead, from the body of a female obtained for dis- 
section. Upon these hairs, also, there are no traces of either button or follicle. (See 
fig. 52 0.) 
These are specimens of ¢mperfect hairs, and seem to prove that pile does not “take its 
origin in a follicle.” We also call attention to fig. 53.c, which represents a curious con- 
nection of three hairs of the horse “ Diligence,” viz: one mane hair that has come to 
maturity, and two smaller ones, one of which appears to be an imperfect hair, probably 
never having had a button or follicle. 
But the suit of skin-specimens, above referred to, explains this subject completely, and 
puts this matter entirely at rest. In the various sections we have made of these, the young 
hairs that have not yet pierced the epidermis may be traced through every stage, from the 
cells to their development. 
First is discovered, in the dermis, a collection of dark-colored dots, granules, or cyto- 
blasts, the precursors and origin of the forthcoming hair. (See fig. 53 “a.’’) 
Secondly, (immediately alongside,) is another collection of granules, partly enclosed in 
the faint outlines of a forming hair. Here we see some of the granules passing gradually 
into lines or fibres. (See fig. 53 “b.””) No button or follicle is yet to be seen. 
Thirdly, fig. 53¢ shows the button just forming; the inferior extremity of it a faint 
outline, while the granules have ascended and condensed in the superior portion of the 
button and the inferior extremity of the shaft; but no follicle yet appears. 
Fourthly, fig. 53d represents a button formed, except that the lower extremity is not 
yet closed; but no follicle is yet seen. 
* Examination and Description of the hair of the head of a five months fictus, of one of the oval-haired species. —Specimen 
presented by Dr. Joseph Leidy, llth of April, 1850. Length, about 2 millimeters; shape, oval; diameter, wae of a milli- 
meter; color, very light, translucent; not much lustre; direction, flowing; inclination, at an acute angle to the epidermis ; 
button, sheath and follicle, none. The shaft terminates in the dermis in a slight swelling, which exceeds, by 3, the diameter 
of the shaft; truncated at the posterior extremity, and around which «re assembled dark-colored dots or grains, in groups 
of various shapes and sizes, but generally extending laterally from the end of the shaft, and rarely measuring more than 
6 tts of a millimeter. Shaft—cortex, squamose, more than 200 scales upon the length of a millimeter. Intermediate 
fibres, minute; one measured the giz of a millimeter. Centre—no central canal; the coloring matter disseminated 
throughout the shaft in lines too minute for measurement. Apex—generally pointed, but occasionally abrupt; none fur- 
cated; diameter of the point, the y!5g of a millimeter, 
