OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 101 
CHAPTER, V1. 
Or THE Dimensions or Pite.—The length and thickness of pile are important matters 
to be observed and remarked. 
Of the length of Pile—There is a bony, fibrous substance found in the mouth of the 
Whale, which, in commerce and the arts, is called whalebone. It is the fanon of the 
French. This substance is represented by some writers to be the beard, and by others to 
be the whiskers of this animal; and if it were hazr, it would be a specimen of the greatest 
length of that integument found upon the mammalia; for it measures from two to ten 
feet. But we have ascertained that it is not pile. (See Chapter I) 
On our species the longest hair is upon the scalp, and females have generally longer 
hair upon their heads than males, as if it were to compensate for the comparative deficiency 
of it upon their bodies. 
“Doth not even Nature itself teach you that if a man have long harr, it is a shame unto 
him?” ‘But ifa woman have long hair, it is a glory unto her, for her hair is given her 
for a covering.” (1 Cor. xi: 14, 15.) 
Among the female sex, it is said, some have been known to have hair extending to the 
heels; sometimes males, also, have long hair. We have, in our cabinet, the hair of the 
male Chinese, T’som Chaoong, which is four feet long. 
Asa general rule, the hair of the he \ 
then that of the oval-haired man, and the wool of the eccentrically elliptical is the 
shortest. 
Next in length to the hair of the head comes, generally, the beard of man; which not 
unfrequently reaches to the waist. The shortest hairs of the body of man are the downy 
hairs, (lantigo.) Hairs of a medium length are found in the axille and the hypogastric 
hairs of both sexes. Some men have long hairs upon the breast, and even upon the 
limbs ; women are, in general, less hairy. 
It is said that the growth of hair is, sometimes, increased by certain diseases ; for 
instance, Dr. Green assures us that, in plica polonica, the hypogastric hair has been known 
to grow down to the knees. (!) 
Of the comparative length of the hairs of the lop er animals.—TVhe following table, com- 
piled from specimens in our cabinet, may be regarded as at least an approach towards 
the truth :— 
The tail of the horse, from 3 to 4 feet. 
The mane of the same, from 12 to 15 inches. 
The tail of the Elephant, 1 foot 1 inch. 
The tail of the Yak, or Horse-Tailed Buffalo, 10 inches. 
The tail of the Zebra, 9 inches. 
