ITS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. 2& 



or smaller hairs, ranged side by side, which can be perceived 

 without difficulty, from the tendency it sometimes has to un- 

 ravel at the point. Mr. Bakewell has remarked on this as 

 - follows : " Hair is frequently observed to split at its points 

 into distinct fibres — a division has also been seen in the hair 

 Of wool. This seems to prove that they are formed of dis- 

 tinct long filaments uniting in one thread or hair. In large 

 hairs I have discovered a number of divisions from the root 

 to the point. In one hair I distinctly perceived fifteen of 

 these divisions of fibres lying' parallel to each other, and in 

 some of the fibres a further subdivision was distinguishable. 

 Probably these subdivisions were each composed of others 

 still smaller, which the limited power of our instruments 

 may prevent us from discovering. If such be the structure 

 of the hair of some animals, it is at least probable that the 

 hair of all others may have a similar conformation, although 

 the fibres of which they are composed may be too minute, 

 or adhere too ficrmly together to permit us to separate or dis- 

 tinguish them." 



ITS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. 



The fact has long since been established that the chemi- 

 cal composition of nails, hoofs, horns, hair, wool, and even 

 feathers, is substantially the same. According to Henry, 

 they are made up of an animal substance resembling coagu- 

 lated albumen ; and sulphur, silica, carbonate and phosphate 

 of lime, and oxides of iron and manganese. The similarity 

 of the odor of hoofs, horns and hair, perceptible when burned, 

 is within the experience of all. Itjs also well known that 

 the horns of cattle are made up of elongated fibres or hair, 

 which will be obvious to any one who will take the trouble 

 to examine with the aid of a microscope. Indeed, without 

 this instrument, the fact can be established as exemplified 

 in the horns of the d^er, at certain stages of the growth, and 

 also those of the girafie, on the surface of which hairs can 

 be distinctly traced. Other testimony may be found in the 

 circumstance, uniformly the same, that the horns conform 

 in the degree of their twist or curve to the hair or wool of 

 the animals on which they respectively grow. Thus, in 

 the Angora goat and wild sheep of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the hoQis are, like the hair and wool they produce, compara- 

 tively straight ; while the horns 'of the Saxon and Merino 

 resemble the beautiful spiral curve of their wool. 



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