OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 63 
Among the hair is found a fragment of a feather, of a yellow color, and considerable 
lustre; in length, ;2,; diameter, ;1,, gradually tapering to 54, of an inch—the beard 
upon which varies in length from ,!; to 334 of an inch, and diameter, 5},. 
There is also found among the hair an insect. 
Peculiarities and Affinities.—The peculiarities of this hair are its cylindrical shape, its 
straight and lank direction, its inclination at an acute angle to the epidermis, its coloring 
matter in the cortex, and as these constitute its affinities with the hair of the Choctaw, 
Cherokee and other tribes of existing American Indians, they determine all these nations 
to belong to one species, Viz: ‘THE CYLINDRICAL-HAIRED MAN.” 
From the uniformity of brown color in these six specimens, in their present faded con- 
dition, and the black color of the seventh, it is probable that they were all originally black; 
like the hair of the present Indians. The want of the usual ductility, elasticity and 
tenacity is attributable to their partial state of decay ; and their discrepancy in this respect 
is probably owing to the different periods that they have been inhumed. The total 
absence of sheath, and the distorted and disrupted state of the button, show that those parts 
are most liable to decay, and even the membranous intermediate fibres which are found 
more perfect, have parted with a portion of their essential properties by lapse of time. 
The pointed apices to many of the filaments, are due to the constant supply of new 
hairs to make up the deficiency of those that are continually falling, and the abrupt term1- 
nation of others, show that it was the practice then, as it is now, to cut the hair. ‘The nit 
which is found on one of these hairs, is proof of the antiquity of the Aptera, of which they 
are the embryo. It is probable that the white centre, which is noticed in the disk of Nos. 
2, 4 and 5, is common to them all; but, being interrupted, is not seen in the rest. 
Or Cuinese Prie.—Our collection of Chinese pile, although very respectable, is not 
equal to that of the American Indians; it is, however, ample for the determination that 
this numerous people belong to the cylindrical-haired species; and it is worthy of remark 
that the Chinese, in their earliest records, describe those who belong to this category by 
the term “de min,” or “black-haired people,” as contradistinguished from the ‘ Yeechi,” 
or foreign races with red or fair hair. 
Or tHe Ovan-Hairep Specirs.—We have examined and measured countless numbers 
of hairs of the heads of Americans and Europeans, and have found them to be oval or 
ovoidal, with as few exceptions as are encountered to any other general rule in natural 
history. And here again, we invoke the description of the flowing and curling locks of 
our ancestors, with which history and poetry are overflowing. 
Hair, which was the chief riches of mythology, was one of the attributes of Heathen 
Divinity. Phidias being asked by whom he had been inspired to make his statue of 
Jupiter Olympus, replied “that it was Homer;” and it requires one to be acquainted 
with the poet to understand the sculptor. That terrible head of curling hair, the single 
movement of which made Olympus tremble. 
"Hy xae xvavenow ev opprar vevoe Kpovior 
auBpocia 8 dpa Xaitar été p'paravto avaxtos 
16 xpatos dn dSavdrou’ weyay SEAEAZEv “OAvunov.—Homert Ilias, Book 1, line 528. 
