54 



a short ?pace So it was in that famous in*= 

 stance some years ago, A nobleman in Germany, 

 was condemned to die, and ordered for execution in 

 the morning. Daring the night, in ten or twelve hours 

 time, all his hair turned white as flax. The emperor 

 being informed of this, said, "he has suffered enough:" 

 and pardoned him. 



Since that time, there has been an instance of one 

 of our own countrymen, who being shipwrecked, 

 saved himself on a small rock, surrounded by the sea. 

 A boat took him oif after he had stayed there four 

 hours. But ua that space his hair was turned quite 

 white. 



Perhaps a still stranger instance of this kind is 

 related in the duke of Sully's memoirs. u Henry IV. 

 told the marquis de la Force, that the moment he was 

 informed Henry 111. had published an edict, (in 

 July, 1585) ordering all the Hugonots cither to go to 

 mass, or to abandon the kingdom in six months, his 

 mustaches turned suddenly white on that side of his 

 face, which he supported with his hand." 



Its Hie is a peculiar kind, and approaches to the 

 nature of vegetation. Hairs grow much as plants 

 grow out of the earth, or as some plants grow upon 

 others : from which they draw their nourishment, 

 and yet each has its life distinct from the other. So 

 hair derives its food from some juices in the body ; 

 l)ut not from the nutritious juices, Accordingly the 

 hair may lire and grow, while the body is starved to 

 death. 



That hair may grow merely as an excrescence of 

 the vegetable kind, appears from that memorable case 

 recited by Mr. Hook, of a body which, having been 

 buried forty-three years, was found in a manner wholly 

 concerted into hair. The woman was buried in a 

 coffin of wood, and lay the lowest of three in the 

 same grave. The others, being removed, and this 

 coffin appearing,*it was observed that much hair came 

 through the clefts of it: on removing the lid, the 

 whole appeared a very surprizing sight. There wa? 



