SUDDEN BLANCHING OF THE HAEK. 129 



in a single night, while the patient was under the daily ob- 

 servation of the visiting physician. As this is one of the 

 few well-authenticated instances of sudden blanching of the 

 hair, we will give, in a few words, its essential particulars : 



The patient, a compositor, thirty-four years of age, with 

 light hair and blue eyes, was admitted into the hospital, 

 July 9, 1865, suffering apparently from an acute attack of 

 delirium tremens. A marked peculiarity in the disease was 

 excessive terror when any person approached the patient. 

 He slept for twelve hours on the night of the eleventh of 

 July, after taking thirty drops of laudanum. Up to this 

 time nothing unusual had been observed with regard to the 

 hair. On the morning of July 12th, it was evident to the 

 medical attendants and all who saw the patient that the 

 hair of the head and beard had become gray. This fact was 

 also remarked by the friends who visited the patient, and he 

 himself called for a mirror, and remarked the change with 

 intense astonishment. The patient continued in the hospital 

 until September 7th, when he was discharged, the hair re- 

 maining gray. 



An interesting point connected with this case is the fact 

 that the hairs were submitted to careful microscopical exami- 

 nation. The white hairs were found to contain a great num- 

 ber of air-globules in the medulla and in the cortical sub- 

 stance, but the pigment was everywhere preserved. The 

 presence of air gave the hairs a dark appearance by trans- 

 mitted light and a white appearance by reflected light. Dr. 

 Landois quotes, in this connection, instances of blanch- 

 ing of the hair, in which each hair presented alternate rings 

 of a white and brown color. Another very curious case of 

 this kind was lately reported to the Hoyal Society by Mr. 

 Erasmus "Wilson. 1 In this case, the white portions present- 

 ed, on a microscopical examination, great bubbles of air; 



1 WILSON*, On a remarkable Alteration of Appearance and Structure of the Hit- 

 man Hair. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, 1867, vol. xv., Xo. 91, p. 

 406, et seq. 



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