OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 81 



matter, which is greenish white, opaque and interrupted ; when the cortex and intermediate 

 fibres are artificially made transparent, the coloring matter is seen collected in spires and 

 tangled threads of a plumbeous color, interrupted by vacant spaces in the canal ; apex, 

 very pointed none furcated ; disks or transverse sections, plumbeous colored, with some- 

 times a minute central speck, which is white and opaque. 



No. 2. Examination and Description of the Pile of the head of the Albino of the 

 while, species, James Spencer, Esq., of Philadelphia, aged twenty-one years, whose father 

 had brown, and whose mother had black hair. Specimen presented by himself, in 1849. 



Length, (artificial,) 2^ inches; shape, oval, TT \ by r of an inch; tapering; for 

 example, a young filament, 1 inch long, measured, at its lower extremity, ^\-$, in the 

 centre, ^ T , and at the apex, ^Vo f an i ncn ', color, white, with a very slight tinge of 

 straw color; lustre, considerable ; direction, flowing. 



Ductility, Elasticity and Tenacity. The Barometer, Thermometer and' Dew-point being 

 the same as before stated, one inch of filament 



With 170 grains stretched ^ of an inch, elasticity entire when the weight was removed. 

 " 400 " " -fa " " " " 



" 520 " " ^ " " " " 



" 670 " " $x- " " " " 



" 725 " " J-$ " " minus -fa 



" 970 it broke. 



Fracture, abrupt, a small portion of the cortex being abraded ; button, sheath and follicle, 

 none ; shaft, uneven, bulged, flattened and sunken ; cortex, transversely striated the length 

 of the shaft, the striae numerous ; intermediate fibres having artificially removed the 

 cortex, the intermediate fibres are exposed to view; they are divided transversely into 

 sections or nodes, of the following lengths, viz: T | T , T ^ and T T of an inch; the inter- 

 stices are bands which are originally white, but which, by exposure to the atmosphere, 

 turn dark colored; central canal, upon artificially rendering the cortex and intermediate 

 fibres transparent, the coloring matter is seen consisting of portions of unequal sizes of 

 spires or threads, of a plumbeous color; the mass has a diameter of ^-^V^ of an inch, but 

 the threads are too small for measurement ; disks or transverse sections, show a plumbeous 

 color, either continuous or with a minute central speck. 



No. 3 Examination and Description of the Pile of the head of the Albino Boy, of the 

 black race, ten years old, both of whose parents are black. Specimen presented by Doctor 

 Nott, of Mobile, Alabama. 



Length, (natural,) 1 inch and two-tenths; shape, eccentrically elliptical; diameter, -^fa 

 by g- of an inch; tapering; for instance, a young filament, measuring one inch and two- 

 tenths, had the following diameters, viz : at the lower extremity, ^^, in the centre, -g| T , 

 and at the apex, ijVff f an inch; color, dirty, reddish-white; lustre, none; direction, 

 crisped and frizzled, and spirally curled; diameter of the curls, -^ of an inch; inclina- 

 tion, we had no means of ascertaining. 



