322 NOTES ON THE HAIR-SLOPE IN MAN. 



that of gravity in the case of a long-haired form, and the one 

 already mentioned as met with in walking. 



The facts here brought forward do not claim to be exhaustive, 

 but rather representative, and I submit that some interpreta- 

 tion of the numerous peculiarities and departures from a simple 

 type of slope which the human body presents is demanded. 



The facts of the case seem to me to bear out the view here 

 maintained, that in man the direction of hair-slope is, in many 

 regions, determined largely by external forces and by habits 

 peculiar to man, and that these, repeated through numerous 

 generations of ancestors in whom the growth of hair was more 

 abundant, have led to the arrangements found in man as he now 

 exists. Certain of these forces and habits can be observed in 

 action at the present time, and, as far as they go, they point to 

 a modifying influence upon a plastic growth such as that of 

 hair. Broadly speaking, one may say that the hair-streams pass 

 in the lines of the least resistance on the body of man. 



The importance of the question of the production of hair-slope 

 is not confined to one such as the human species, but, if the 

 position here maintained be found applicable to this highest of 

 all forms, it furnishes a strong presumption in favour of similar 

 influences at work in many others, if not all, of the great group 

 of hairy mammals. In this case an extensive body of facts con- 

 trary to the doctrine of Weismann would be forthcoming. 



