OR, A TREATISE ON I'lLE. 101 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE DIMENSIONS OF PILE. The length and thickness of pile are important matters 

 to be observed and remarked. 



Of the length of Pile. There is a bony, fibrous substance found in the mouth of the 

 "Whale, which, in commerce and the arts, is called whalebone. It is the fanon of the 

 French. This substance is represented by some writers to be the beard, and by others to 

 be the whiskers of this animal; and if it were hair, it would be a specimen of the greatest 

 length of that integument found upon the mammalia ; for it measures from two to ten 

 feet. But we have ascertained that it is not pile. (See Chapter I ) 



On our species the longest hair is upon the scalp, and females have generally longer 

 hair upon their heads than males, as if it were to compensate for the comparative deficiency 

 of it upon their bodies. 



" Doth not even Nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto 

 him?" "But if a woman have long hair, it is a g'ory unto her, for her hair is given her 

 for a covering." (I Cor. xi : 14, 15.) 



Among the female sex, it is said, some have been known to have hair extending to the 

 heels; sometimes males, also, have long hair. \Ve have, in our cabinet, the hair of the 

 male Chinese, Tsorv Chaoong, which is four feet long. 



As a general rule, the hair of the head of the cylindrical-haired man is the longest 

 then that of the oval-haired man, and the wool of the eccentrically elliptical is the 

 shortest. 



Next in length to the hair of the head comes, generally, the beard of man; which not 

 imfrequently reaches to the waist. The shortest hairs of the body of man are the downy 

 hairs, (laniigo.) Haij;s of a medium length are found in the axillaB and the hypogastric 

 hairs of both sexes. Some men have long hairs upon the breast, and even upon the 

 limbs ; women are, in general, less hairy. 



It is said that the growth of hair is, sometimes, increased by certain diseases ; for 

 instance, Dr. Green assures us that, in plica polonica, the hypogastric hair has been known 

 to urow down to the knees. (!) 



Of the comparative length of the hairs of the lower animals. The following table, com- 

 piled from specimens in our cabinet, may be regarded as at least an approach towards 

 the truth : 



The tail of the horse, from 3 to 4 feet. 



The mane of the same, from 12 to 15 inches. 



The tail of the Elephant, 1 foot 1 inch. 



The tail of the Yak, or Horse-Tailed Buffalo, 10 inches. 



The tail of the Zebra, 9 inches. 



