OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 49 



Fifthly, fig. 53 e shows the button fully developed, and the follicle just commencing to 

 form around it. 



Sixthly, fig. 5'3f is an instance where the follicle is beginning to form before the button 

 is entirdij developed. 



Seventhly, fig. 53 g shows the button and follicle, both formed ; this hair having come to 

 maturity. 



In this specimen the follicle was white, but opaque ; and, in order to make it transparent, 

 it was necessary to crush it, which has altered the original shapeof the follicle; for which 

 the reader will make allowance. The same of fig. 53/1 



Some Examples of Follicles of the Pile of the three Species of Men. Figure 54 a repre- 

 sents the follicle of pile of the oval-haired species, where " a," is the button; " i," the follicle, 

 and " c," a portion of the shaft, with the cortex removed, to expose the fibres. 



Figure 54 b is a hair of the cylindrical-piled man; " a," is the button ; " b," the follicle ; 

 " c," a part of the shaft, and "d," a portion of the tissue disrupted and drawn out. 



Figure 54 c shows the pile of an eccentrically elliptical piled man, where " a," is the 

 button; "b," the follicle; "c," a piece of the shaft; "d," a portion of the tissue, and 

 " e," a vessel. All these hairs have arrived at their full development. 



The Follicles of the Hairs of Hybrids. Figure 55 a represents the hair of a Hybrid, 

 a tetra dimestisin. 



OF THE VITALITY OF PILE. The learned do not agree in regard to the vitality 

 of pile. Bichat divides a hair into two parts, viz : an exterior envelope, and an interior 

 substance. The former he considers to be lifeless and insensible, and the latter to enjoy 

 real vitality. 



In the Lond. and Edin. Journ. of Med. Science, for 1841, p. 595, it is said that the 

 vitality of hair itself, appears to be proved by the fact, that in a majority of cases of a plica 

 polinica, the matted hair tufts do not extend to the surface of the scalp, but consist of groups 

 of hairs, which are healthy at the base, and are implanted in healthy bulbs [follicles.] But 

 our examination of the hair of the head of Annette Engles, (who was laboring under 

 incipient plica polinica,) shows that the button also is diseased.* 



It has also been asserted that if the shaft of the hair, in plica polinica, is cut, it will 

 bleed. But both Mechel and Halle r deny this assertion, and I'Heretier, (who analysed the 

 substance which oozes out of this diseased hair,) found it to be only an ammoniacal soap.-\ 

 (See Trait, de Chem. Path., p 616.) 



Ellisten (in Hum. Phys., p. 277,) states, that in the disease Phrenitis, the hair is 

 sensible to the slightest touch. But this might be, were the hair itself insensible, but were 

 connected, (through its follicle,) with delicate nerves. A friend of ours sometimes suffers 

 from severe attacks of Neuralgia in the scalp : and in the intervals of these attacks, the 



See Charleston Med. Rev. and Jour., v. vi., 307. 



t See Youatt in Essay upon Sheep, Lib. of Usf. Know., p. CO, and Luccock on Sheep, p. 81, and An. do Cliem. An., 

 xi., No. 141. 



