i84 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 400 



In the same article is tbe statement that the jet black hair 

 of the Pacific Islanders- does not turn gray gradually; but 

 when it does turn, it is sudden, usually the result of fright 

 or sudden emotions. 



The following cases are of change of color from white to 

 black: — 



Dr. Bruley,^ physician to tbe Fontainebleau, reported to 

 tbe Society Medicale, Paris, in 1798, tbe case of a woman 

 sixty years old, whose hair, naturally white and transparent 

 as glass, became jet-black four days before her death 

 (phthisis). On examination after death, the bulbs of the 

 black hairs were of immense size and engorged with dark 

 pigment. The roots of white hairs that remained were dried 

 up, and two-thirds smaller in size." 



Dr. Alanson Abbe" mentions the case of Dr. Capen, who 

 had become gray, but, on recovery from disease, his hair be- 

 came quite dark. 



In the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, 1845, p. 

 310, there is reported the case of an old man eighty-one 

 years of age, robust and hale. His hair, from being per- 

 fectly white, became black, and the same of the beard. This 

 man also presented the phenomena of second sight. He 

 could read readily without glasses. The text-books on skin- 

 diseases also mention cases. Several cases of sudden cani- 

 ties are referred to in Ziemssen. 



Brown-Sequard, in his own person, noticed one day a 

 white hair in his beard where there was none the day previ- 

 ous. He pulled it out, and the next day others appeared. 

 This was observed repeatedly, and there was no doubt the 

 hair in its entire length turned white in one night. Under 

 the microscope these white hairs showed small air-bubbles in 

 place of the normal pigment. In a case of hemiplegia the 

 hair became white on the paralyzed side. The same has been 

 reported in cases of neuralgia. Other anomalous cases have 

 been noted where the hair became white in patches, and 

 where individual hairs have been seen alternately white and 

 black at different stages of its growth, to which condition 

 Karsh and Landois have given the name of "ringed hair," 

 and ascribed it to an intermittent trophic disease affecting 

 the hair-follicle. Wilson ' mentions a case where the hair 

 was gray in winter, and regained its normal color in sum- 

 mer. 



Alibert " and Beizel relate cases of women with blond hair 

 which all came out after severe fever, and when new hair 

 grew it was black. Alibert also relates the case of a young 

 man who lost brown hair during illness, and that which 

 replaced it was red. In the case of an epileptic girl of 

 idiotic type, with alternating phases of stupidity and excite- 

 ment, during the stage of stupidity the hair was blond, dur- 

 ing excitement it was red. This change of color took place 

 in two or three days, the change always beginning at the 

 ends of the hairs. Pale hairs showed an increased number 

 of air-spaces. It has been frequently observed, that, when 

 the hair changes color gradually, the change begins in the 

 end, and extends toward the bulb. In conversation with an 

 eminent ornithologist on the change of color in the plumage 

 of birds, he said, "I have lately been watching hairs in my 

 mustache turn gray, and they always begin at the ends, and 

 it extends to the roots." 



> Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1852, p. 406. 



2 Wilson, Skin Diseases, p. 377. 



' Drooker, Diseases of the Skin, 1888. 



Speaking on the subject with a lady, she mentioned the 

 case of the physician who attended her at the seashore last 

 summer. The doctor's hair was long and quite gray. One 

 day he came in to see her after having his hair cut, and she 

 was surprised to notice that the gray hair had given place 

 to black. Examination showed that his hair towards the 

 ends had been white, and that nearer tbe skin black. The 

 white portion had been removed by the cutting. 



The cases here collected are only a few in comparison to 

 what might be found ; but they are sufficient to prove beyond 

 all reasonable doubt that the hair does suddenly change color 

 under certain circumstances, and that the change takes place 

 in existing hairs. 



Analogous to changes in the color *f .the hair in man are 

 the changes which occur in the lower animals. In animals 

 and birds such changes are often periodical, as in their sum- 

 mer and winter coats. This occurs to a very marked degree 

 in a great many species. Thus the ermine in summer is 

 dark brown, in winter is pure white. Among birds the 

 ptarmigan is white in winter, and brown in summer. So 

 with our familiar bobolink, yellow in fall, in spring black 

 and buff. As to the question whether, in birds and animals, 

 this change takes place in individual feathers and hairs, or 

 whether all the old plumage and fur is shed by moulting, 

 recent investigations favor the view that it is due to both. 

 Dr. Elliott Coues ^ says it may be either or both. Mr. Eobert 

 Ridgway (Smithsonian Institution) inclines to the opinion 

 that in birds it is accomplished by moulting. Dr. Louis 

 Stejneger (Smithsonian Institution) vvas formerly of the same 

 opinion, but recent studies have inclined him to the belief 

 that there is also a change in the color of existing feathers. 

 He was led to this change of belief by a critical study of the 

 changes in color of the black and white fly-catcher of 

 Europe, and especially from an examination of a series of 

 twenty-seven specimens of the narcissus fly-catcher {Xan- 

 thophygalia narcissina) of Japan. His studies in full will 

 appear in the "Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum, 1889." Dr. C. Hart Merriam, ornithologist of the 

 Agricultural Department, in a letter dated June 12, 1889, 

 says, "The change from fall to spring plumage in birds is 

 due to moult — without exception, as far as I am aware. In 

 the case of mammals the matter is now in dispute. Probably 

 in the majority of cases it is due in part to moult, and in 

 part to actual change in the color of existing hairs. . . . 

 The change in color from immaturity to maturity is always 

 due to the growth of new hairs or feathers." 



That the change in birds and mammals is due in part, at 

 least, to change of existing coats, seems established. Some- 

 times this change is almost sudden, as where the change of 

 season is very abrupt. In such case, of course, there would 

 not be time for the growth of new hair or plumage. 



In the golden plover (Charadrius dominicus) the black 

 belly of summer changes to white in winter. While this 

 change is taking place, individual feathers, part black and 

 part white, may be seen. In Bonaparte's gull, a common 

 gull of our coast (Larus Philadelphia), the black of the head 

 of summer changes to white in winter, principally by change 

 in color of existing feathers. 



Another interesting feature of this question, as bearing on 

 the change in the color of the hair by drugs, is the influence 



1 Fur-Bearing Animals. 



