ANIMALS. 



143 



the man. It is, in general, thickest where the 

 constitution is strongest; and more glossy, 

 and beautiful, where the health is most per- 

 manent. The ancients held the hair to be a 

 sort of excrement, produced like the nails; 

 the part next the root pushing out that im- 

 mediately contiguous. But the moderns have 

 found that every hair may be truly said to live, 

 to receive nutriment, to fill and distend itself, 

 like the other parts of the body. The roots, 

 they observe, do not turn gray sooner than 

 the extremities, but the whole hair changes 

 colour at once ; and we have many instances 

 of persons who have grown gray in one night's 

 time.' Each hair, if viewed with a microscope, 

 is found to consist of five or six lesser ones, 

 all wrapped up in one common covering; it 

 appears knotted, like some sorts of grass, and 

 sends forth branches at the joints. It is bul- 

 bous at the root, by which it imbibes its mois- 

 ture from the body : and it is split at the 

 points ; so that a single hair, at its end, re- 

 sembles a brush. Whatever be the size or 

 the shape of the pore, through which the hair 

 issues, it accommodates itself to the same ; 

 being either thick, as they are large ; small, 

 as they are less ; round, triangular, and vari- 

 ously formed, as the pores happen to be va- 

 rious. The hair takes its colour from the 

 juices flowing through it; and it is found that 

 this colour differs in different tribes and ra- 

 ces of people. The' Americans and the Asia- 

 tics have their hair black, thick, straight, and 

 shining. The inhabitants of the torrid cli- 

 mates of Africa have it black, short, and wool- 

 ly. The people of Scandinavia have it red, 

 long, and curled ; and those of our own, and 

 the neighbouring countries, are found with 

 hair of various colours. However, it is sup- 

 posed by many, that every man resembles in 

 his disposition the inhabitants of those coun- 

 tries whom he resembles in the colour and the 

 nature of his hair ; so that the black are said, 

 like the Asiatics, to be grave and acute ; the 

 red, like the Gothic nations, to be choleric 

 and bold. However this may be, the length 

 and the strength of the hair is a general mark 

 of a good constitution ; and, as that hair which 

 is strongest is most commonly curled, so curl- 

 ed hair is generally regarded among us as a 



Mr. BufTon says, that the hair begins to grow gray 

 at the points ; but the fact is otherwise. 



b Mr. Bullun is of this opinion. Ho says, that the up- 



beauty. The Greeks, however, had a very 

 different idea of beauty in this respect; and 

 seem to have taken one of their peculiar na- 

 tional distinctions from the length and the 

 straightness of the hair." 



The nose is the most prominent feature in 

 the face ; but, as it has scarcely any motion, 

 and that only in the strongest passions, it ra- 

 ther adds to the beauty than to the expres- 

 sion of the countenance. " However, I am told, 

 by the skilful in this branch of knowledge, 

 that wide nostrils add a great deal to the bold 

 and resolute air of the countenance ; and 

 where they are narrow, though it may con- 

 stitute beauty, it seldom improves expression." 

 The form of the nose, and its advanced posi- 

 tion, are peculiar to the human visage alone. 

 Other animals, for the most part, have nos- 

 trils, with a partition between them ; but none 

 of them have an elevated nose. Apes them- 

 selves have scarcely any thing else of this fea- 

 ture but the nostrils ; the rest of the feature 

 lying flat upon the visage, and scarcely higher 

 than the cheek-bones. " Among all the tribes 

 of the savage wen also, the nose is very flat ; 

 and I have seen a Tartar who had scarcely 

 any thing else but two holes through which to 

 breathe." 



The mouth and lips, next to the eyes, are 

 found to have the greatest expression. The 

 passions have great power over this part of 

 the face ; and the mouth marks its different 

 degrees by its different forms. The organ of 

 speech still more animates this part, and gives 

 it more life than any other feature in the coun- 

 tenance. The ruby colour of the lips, and the 

 white enamel of the teeth, give it such a su- 

 periority over every other feature, that it 

 seems to make the principal object of our re- 

 gards. In fact, the whole attention is fixed 

 upon the lips of the speaker: however rapid 

 his discourse, however various the subject, 

 the mouth takes correspondent situations ; 

 and deaf men have been often found to see 

 the force of those reasonings which they could 

 not hear, understanding every word as it was 

 spoken. 



"The under jaw in man possesses a great 

 variety of motions ; while the upper has been 

 thought, by many, to be quite immoveable." 



per jaw is imiTioveahlc in all animals. However, the pat- 

 rot is an obvious exception ; and so is man himself, as 

 shown above. 



