42 TRICIIOLOGIA MAMMALIUM ; 



The diameters of hair fibres have been variously estimated; Henlo found them to be 

 -rfa-$; Bidder, ^ T fo^, an< ^ Burns, -g^V^r (See Lond. and Edin. Journal of Med., of 

 1842, p. 702. 



Of the further use of the fibres of Pile. The fibrous arrangement of pile is not only 

 well calculated to impart strength to the filament, but to admit of capillary attraction, 

 thereby furnishing a passage for such fluids as are not confined to the central canal of a 

 perfect hair. It is also well adapted to encircle and protect the canal through which the 

 coloring matter of a perfect hair is, when present, conveyed. With a high magnifying 

 power, the ends of the fibres may often be seen, when examining transverse sections of 

 hair cut so thinly as to be viewed as transparent objects; as in fig 48 a, which represents 

 the hair of the head of Annette Engle, aged 11 years, born in Poland, of Jewish parents, 

 now in Philadelphia, supposed to be laboring under incipient plica polinica. 



Fig. 48 /> shows the fibres of an American Indian's hair. A disk of a hair of the Hybrid 

 Eieu Choate, is seen at fig. 48 c ; and fig. 48 d represents a similar section of the hair of 

 the head of the late Mr. Elias Hicks. 



OF THE CENTRAL PORTION OF A PERFECT HAIR. This portion of the stalk of a perfect 

 hair, exhibits one of the three following appearances: 



1. A central canal, containing a granulated substance and pigment cells. 



2. A granulated substance, and no pigment cells. 



3. A void canal. (Henle.) 



An imperfect hair has no central canal. 



The granulated substance consists of very small, brilliant globules, conglomerated into 

 clots; they are oftentimes piled in series upon series; and at others, when less depressed, 

 appear in distinct masses, with void spaces between. (Henle.) 



Fig. 49 a represents the hair of one of the oval-haired species, which has been made 

 transparent, in order to show the coloring matter in a central canal. 



Fig. 49 b is a hair of one of the cylindrical-piled species, which has undergone the 

 same operation, but which is not made transparent, because, as it is believed, the coloring 

 matter is in the cortex, or in the cortex and fibres. 



Some examples of the disposition of the coloring matter of Pile. One of the most 

 interesting studies in regard to pile, consists in the way in which the coloring matter is 

 disposed. 



The examination and description of the Hair of the Dog-Faced Monkey, 0. 2. Quadru- 

 mana Tribe, Monkeys of the Old World, (Mandril.) (Elem. de Zool., 274.) Specimen 

 alive in the Philadelphia Zoological Menagerie. Length, 2 inches and ^ths; greatest 

 diameter, ^J 7 of an inch; least, r jL_ o f an inch. Button shape, conical, with the largest 

 part of the cone towards the posterior extremity of the hair, and very abrupt, or spindle- 

 shaped; color, white; length, T '| 7 of an inch; diameter, -^^ of an inch. Sheath, invest- 

 ing loosely the button and lower extremity of the shaft; color, white, opaque ; length, T ^ 

 of an inch, and diameter, -^-^ of an inch. Follicle had none to examine. Shaft shape, 

 oval ; cortex, color, variegated, commencing at the button, dirty-brown, passing into 



