1 32 TK U" 1 HO 1,00 1 A M A M M A LI U M ; 



Examination of the second parcel of hairs, presented by Dr. Kirkbride, marked "Drawn 

 Hairs of Lunaties mostly old cases." There are, in this parcel, one hundred and fifty- 

 eight hairs ; of these, ninety -eight have no button, ten have the ordinary button, and fifty 

 have the button distorted and discolored. 



From the whole of these examinations, we feel satisfied that if there exists any difference 

 between the hairs of the sane and the insane, it must be sought for in the button. It will 

 be recollected, that this portion of a perfect hair of the head of a sane white person is 

 translucent, and of a regular shape generally that of a pestle. (See Figs. 16 and 17.) 



When a hair is drawn out of the head, we sometimes have the stalk only the button, 

 sheath and follicle, being all left behind. This is more generally the case when the dermis 

 or epidermis, owing to disease or any other cause, is contracted; and this, probably, will 

 account for the large proportion of hairs of the insane, which came under examination, 

 being without a button. Upon three hundrej and sixty-nine hairs, presented by Dr. Evans, 

 we found but seventy-nine buttons and this occurred after a careful drawing; and upon 

 one hundred and fifty-eight hairs, obtained from Dr. Kirkbride, there were but fifty buttons. 

 Upon an equal number of hairs, carefully drawn from the head of a sane, healthy white 

 person, probably there would have been three-fourths with a button. 



It will be perceived that, out of 139 buttons examined by us, thirty-eight had the ordi- 

 nary, and 101 distorted and discolored buttons. The distortions have no general character, 

 some of them are flattened, others are crooked, curved or twisted and there are a few that 

 are hamate. There is a loss of the translucency, which is characteristic of the button of 

 a sound hair.* We do not, nevertheless, pretend to have extended our examinations to the 

 length that would authorise the enunciation of a theory; but, on the contrary, make the result 

 of our labors known, merely to attract the attention of medical gentlemen, and particularly 

 those who are connected with insane asylums, to the subject. Should future inquiries 

 confirm our views, it will appear that in lunacy the skin and its appendages are affected, 

 and these distortions and discolorations of the button may become valuable diagnostics. 

 It has been shown that the button and follicle, as well as the shaft of the hair are continu- 

 ally forming from cells, to supply the deficiency caused by gradual waste from hairs 

 falling out ; and this explains why a part only of the hairs examined were distorted and 

 discolored, while the remainder were in the ordinary state. 



The hairs of lunatics were the first diseased ones which came under our examination, 

 and it is possible that we may have mistaken for the signs of lunacy what were the marks of 

 disease only. If this shall turn out to be the case, the error can easily be corrected by 

 comparison with other diseased hairs. 



We are assured by Professor Duni>lison, (in Hum. Philos., p. 277,) that, " Mania 

 never occurs without the physical condition of the brain undergoing some change, directly 



* Since writing the foregoing, we have examined a great many hairs of lunatics from the Asylum in Staunton, Western 

 Virginia;, and from two lunatic asylums in Ohio, and found the results always the same. 



