2JO 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



more red, however, than aught else. As the black 

 decreases the colour becomes chestnut, auburn, 

 bright red, sandy, flaxen, yellow, and white (so- 

 called). However, there is no such thing as truly 

 black hair. The word means merely — very dark." 



The mode of w-earing the hair is a national 

 feature in some countries, as in China and North 

 America. In the Anatomical Museum of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh there is the hair of a South 

 Sea Islander chief. It is a very interesting speci- 

 men, and a full account is given in the " Proceed- 

 ings of the British Association for 1892." When a 

 child the hair is gathered in bundles like quills and 

 wrapped with vegetable fibres. This is carried on 

 until the bundles are of a considerable length and 

 the hairs are allowed to shoot out at the end some- 

 thing like a feather brush. The appearance of this 

 specimen when tied around the middle is like a 

 small corn stack, It is worn quite loose. The 

 number of hairs in one bundle has been counted 

 and multipled by the number of bundles, and the 

 result is approximately 900,000 hairs on the vrhole 

 scalp. The inhabitants of the Anadaman Islands 

 shave the head completely. The people of one race, 

 whose name I forget, pluck out the hairs from the 

 face, leaving them only on the tip of the chin. 

 Barrow, in describing the hair of the Hottentot, 

 says : "It does not cover the whole surface of the 

 scalp, but grows in small tufts at certain distances 

 from each other, and, when clipped short, has the 

 appearance and feel of a hard shoe-brush, except 

 that it is curled and twisted into small round 

 lumps about the size cf a marrow-fat pea." 



The length to which the human hair grows is 

 variable. In females, excepting of negro races, 

 its average length is about twenty-six inches. 

 There are cases on record where the hair has 

 grown to a most abnormal length. One often 

 reads about hair being four to six feet in length. 

 There was a man in the neighbourhood of the 

 English lakes whose beard was so long that he 

 could wrap it round his neck for a comforter. 

 Catlin records that the hair of a chief of the Crow 

 Indians was ten feet seven inches in length. Some 

 American Indians allow their hair to grow very 

 long, and keep it carefully strapped up, except on 

 state occasions. At nearly every country fair 

 curious grow-ths of hair are exhibited. 



We shall study the function of hair in lower 

 animals first and then in man. (1) Hair keeps the 

 body dry. One often notices a dog in a shower of 

 rain, how the water drains from him as it does from 

 a house roof. Sebum is insoluble in cold 

 water, and thus protects the roots of the hair from 

 moisture. (2) Hair keeps the body cool in hot 

 weather ; this it does because it is a bad conductor 

 of heat. Similarly (3) hair keeps the body 

 warm in cold weather by preventing the heat 

 produced in the body from radiating outwards. 



(4) The colour of the hair to some animals is a 

 protection. It is quite evident that the hair of 

 man is not of as much importance to him as the 

 hairy coat is to other mammals. To men and 

 women hair is perhaps more of an ornament than 

 a useful structure, a remark which applies par- 

 ticularly to the latter sex. The power of the hair 

 to keep the head dry and to protect the brain from 

 cold or heat, is certainly nowadays not appreciated. 

 The eyelashes prevent particles from entering the 

 eye, and the eyebrows prevent perspiration from 

 flowing on to the eyelids. The moustache prevents, 

 to a certain extent, dust, etc., from entering themouth 

 and nostrils, a fact fully appreciated by masons and 

 millers. The whiskers and beard protect the 

 throat. Men who have periodic affections of the 

 throat have greatly benefited by growing whiskers. 

 Commercially hair is used to a greater extent than 

 usually thought. Everybody knows that wool is 

 the hair of the sheep. Wool differs from ordinary 

 hair in that its scales stand out much more 

 promine—Iv, :r are much. ~:re imbricate:., causing 

 the individual hairs to interlock, a condition of 

 much importance in such processes as felting. 

 Hair is also used to make carpets, lines, cement, 

 in making micrometers, and as surgical stitches, etc. 



Hair is cast, like a feather is cast, after it has 

 lived for a certain time. Baldness is a very 

 common condition and is diffi cult to explain. It 

 seems to be due in some measure to the pressure, 

 on the blood vessels supplying nouris hm ent to the 

 scalp, caused by the unyielding and tight-fitting 

 rims of felt and silk hats. It is curious to note 

 that grey or white hair has a less tendency to fall 

 than other kinds have. We read in Lempriere's 

 Classical Dictionary that ^Eschylus was very un- 

 lucky in possessing a bald head : " An eagle, with 

 a tortoise in her bill, flew over his bald head and, 

 supposing it to be a stone, dropped her prey upon 

 it to break the shell, and -Eschylus instantly died 

 of the blow, in the 69th year of his age, 456 B.C." 



In conclusion, I would point out that hair, when 

 one considers its great relative flexibility, elasticity 

 and strength, the simple ingenuity of its structure 

 and of its physiology, is entitled to be ranked 

 with some of the best of nature's handicrafts. 



By an error, the inscriptions under figs. 1 and 

 2, on page 247, were transposed. 



tfeta University Buildings, Edinburgh ; Sept. 25th, 1894.. 



Scarcity of Butterflies. — Although constantly 

 walking about the country, I do not recollect to 

 have met with a single orange-tip (Euchlce carda- 

 rnines) in 1894. These are usually plentiful in the 

 neighbourhood, and I should not think I have ever 

 before failed to have seen them. As an instance of 

 the difference in succeeding seasons, in September, 

 1893, I counted thirty small copper butterflies at 

 one time on the marigolds at Ealing Broadway 

 Station. — A. Sewell, 68, Ranelagh Road, Ealing. 



