OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 51 
CHAPTER ITT. 
Or a Perrect Harr.—Eble is of opinion that the most perfect hair is the whisker of 
some of the lower animals, such as the seal, the lion, the rabbit, &c.; but we (considering 
these whiskers as organs of touch) place the hair of the scalp of the white man, as regards 
perfection, at the head of the list of piles. 
Or rue CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PILE oF THE Human Heap.—These are the shape or 
form, the ductility, elasticity and tenacity, the direction, and the inclination, &c., &c. 
Of the Shape or Form of Pile of the Human Head—The greatest number that have 
come under our notice, are either cylindrical, oval or eccentrically elliptical ; we therefore 
call these the general forms of these piles. 
Explanation of these Terms.—A cylinder, (from Kulindreo,) is a body formed by the 
rotation of a parallelogram about its own sides. Ifa cylinder be cut by a plane parallel 
to its base, the section will be a circle, equal to the base. 
When a transverse section of a filament of pile presents this cércle, we call the pile 
“cylindrical.” An oval, from ovum, an egg, is a curvilinear oblong figure. 
When a transverse section of a filament of pile presents a curvilinear oblong figure, the 
ereatest diameter of which is 3 more than its smallest, we call the pile “oval” 
When a transverse section of a filament of pile presents a curvilinear oblong figure, the 
greatest diameter of which is % more than its smallest, we call the pile “ eccentrically 
elliptical.” 
EXAMPLES OF THE THREE GENERAL FORMS. 
\° ney 
Fig. 57. 
B 
lliptical. 
J 
Oval. 
Eccentrically F 
Cylindrical. 
Of the Particular Forms.—But there are other shapes, less frequently met with, viz: 
the cylindrozdal, the lesser ovordal, the greater ovordal, and the eccentrically elliptozdal, 
to which we give the name of “the particular forms of pile.” 
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