Retention and Loss of Hair. 411 



writers in Popular Science claim, it does not suffice to 

 explain the subject at all adequately. The great increase 

 in the prevalence of all forms of nervous disease, and the 

 modifications wrought in old forms of disease by the greater 

 prominence of the nervous type of human being, points to 

 the fact that our civilization makes calls upon the organiza- 

 tion which tell especially on the nervous system. The strain 

 of life falls in general, it will be conceded, most upon men. 

 Man is the bread-winner; his anxieties, struggles, and dis- 

 appointments, are both many and severe; and man is often 

 prematurely bald for the same reason that he is prematurely 

 old in other respects. Woman is less so because brain stress 

 less frequently falls to her lot. But in connection with this 

 must be taken, to complete the explanation, the fact that as 

 with some races and some males of our own race, the vitality 

 and persistence of the hair of the head in woman is special- 

 ly marked. That overwork of the brain may influence 

 the cephalic circulation (and so the hair) unfavorably, is evi- 

 dent enough from the dark circles beneath the eyes, owing 

 to venous congestion, on the morning after unduly severe 

 mental exercise, not to mention the headache from a similar 

 cause ; and it is not surprising that the vertex of the head, 

 with its relatively variable and feeble blood supply, should 

 suffer most — in a word, that the overworked or overworked 

 man should be bald — unless, as in most women, there is 

 unusual vitality of his hair bulbs. Baldness is one more of 

 the many warnings of our day — one of Nature's protests 

 against the irregular and excessive activity maintained in 

 this restless age. 



The Eoyal Society of Canada is actively forwarding the 

 movement suggested by Sir William Dawson, for an Im- 

 perial Union of Geological Surveys and Societies. This is 

 an effort which promises large benefits, and should be 

 heartily supported. 



