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lEntered at the PosL-Offlce o£ New York, N."5t.. as Second-Class Maiter.J 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 400. 



NEW YORK, October 3, 1890. 



SiNGLB Copies, Ten Cents. 

 $3.50 Per Yeae, in Advance. 



CHANGES IN COLOR OF HAIR AND FEATHERS. 



The question of change of color of the hair is an interest- 

 ing one both from a physiological point of view and from 

 the practical one of pathology. The physiological aspect 

 embraces the question of how a change of color takes place, 

 — whetlier in existing hairs, or produced by shedding of the 

 hair and a new growth taking its place of a different color. 



It has been doubted by good authority (Hebraand Kaposi) 

 if the hair, after being once developed, can change except 

 by a very gradual process. This doubt is based upon the 

 theory that the hair has no vascalat or nerve connection 

 with the general system, and must therefore be independent 

 of nervons or systemic influence. This position is, how- 

 ever, not tenable The clinical evidence is positive that the 

 hair does change color under systemic influences, sometimes 

 gradually, and sometimes suddenly. We hear frequently 

 of the hair turning white in a night from violent emotions, 

 as fright, great grief, or great joy ; and it has come to be a 

 method of expressing extreme emotion to say, "It was 

 enough to turn one's hair white." I say it is not an un- 

 common thing to see mention of such cases in popular liter- 

 ature, but well-authenticated cases are not so often found. 

 It is recorded in history that the hair of Marie Antoinette 

 and Mary Queen of Scots became white suddenly from the 

 hoiTors to which they were subjected. Poets have not 

 failed to avail themselves of the idea. Byron, in the "Pris- 

 oner of Chillon," says, — 



" My hair is gray, but not with years; 

 Nor grew it white 

 In a single night, 

 As men's have grown from sudden fears." 



A short time since, in conversation with an eminent 

 microscopist and pathologist,^ I asked how he would explain 

 from the basis of minute anatomy the sudden change in 

 color of the hair. He replied that he did not explain it; 

 that he did not believe it happened ; that the reported cases 

 were not authenticated. He further said, that, from the 

 structure of the hair and its relation to the skin, he consid- 

 ered it impossible. 



Duhring (third edition) is authority for the statement 

 that Hebra and Kaposi discredit sudden canities. There is 

 nevertheless no doubt of the fact that such change does 

 sometimes occur; ajid, to set the matter definitely at rest, I 

 looked up the subject in the Library of the Surgeon-Gen- 

 eral's Office. The following are some of the reference* 

 found : — 



Dr, William P. Dewees" reports a case of puerperal con- 



i Dr. Gray of the Army Medical Museum. 



" Philadelphia Medical Museum, 1807, Tol. iii. p. 219. 



vulsions under his care. From 10 A M. to 4 p.m. fifty ounces 

 of blood were taken. Between the time of Dr. Dewees's 

 visits, n')t more than an hour, the hair anterior to the coro- 

 nal suture turned white. The next day it was less light, 

 and in four or five days was nearly its natural color. He 

 also mentions two cases of sudden blanching from,, fright. 



Dr. Robert Fowler' reports the case of a girl sixteen years 

 of age, apparently in good health, hair black, who found 

 one morning in combing her hair that a strip the whole 

 length of the back hair was white, starting from a surface 

 about two inches square around the occipital protuberance. 

 Two weeks later she had patches of Ephelis over the whole 

 body. 



In the Canada Journal of Medical Science, 1882, p. 113, 

 is reported a case of sudden canities due to business worry. 

 The microscope showed a great many air-vesicles both in the 

 medullary substance and between the medullary_and cortical 

 substance. 



Dr. Graves'" says most authors are of the opinion that the 

 hair, once formed, is independent of the organism, with 

 which opinion he disagrees, instancing Plica polonica as 

 opposed to such a theory. He gives the following cases: — 



1. A British officer in India, forty-eight years old, fell 

 into bad health, and became prematurely gray. He returned 

 to England, regained his health, and in four years his hair 

 returned to its original brown. 



2. In a man sixty-seven years of age, hau- white, chest 

 covered with long white hair, the chest was blistered; and 

 when hair grew out over the blistered surface, it was black. 



3. In a man, aged thirty-five, bald, a small blister the size 

 of a crown piece was applied to vertex for congestion of the 

 brain. Growth of hair followed over the blistered surface. 



4. A lady, hair of vertex gray and very scanty, applied 

 tar-water. Hair grew, and was of natural color. 



5. The same occurred in another case after application of 

 citrine ointment. 



In the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1851, is re- 

 ported a case of a man thirty years old whose hair was scared 

 white in a day by a grisly bear. He was sick in a mining 

 camp, was left alone, and fell asleep. On waking, he found 

 a grisly bear standing over him 



A second case is that of a man of twenty -three years who 

 was gambling in California. He placed his entire savings 

 of eleven hundred dollars on the turn of a card. He was 

 under tremendous nervous excitement while the cards were 

 being dealt. He won. The next day his hair was perfectly 

 white. 



^ Loudon Lancet, 1853, p. 556. 



'' DubliB Quarterly Journal o£ Medical Soience, 1847. 



