64 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS. 
the fungi which attack those parts of the skin clothed 
with hair; the brush, the comb, or razor which passes 
successively and on the same day over hundreds of 
heads or chins must necessarily, if only in one case 
out of ten, carry the spores of the parasite from one 
person to another. 
The parasitic diseases of the hair are extremely 
persistent, and precautions as to cleanliness will not 
always effect a cure. The mixtures sold by hair- 
dressers under the name of capillary water, lotion to 
eradicate scurf, ete., should all be rejected. Experience 
shows that wetting the head often favours the 
development of the fungus, which may, indeed, remain 
stationary for two or three days, but which becomes 
more vigorous as soon as the head is dry. Sulphur 
and its compounds are successful in such cases, as 
well as in the parasitic diseases of plants. It would 
-be best to apply this remedy in the form of a dry, 
impalpable powder, as in the application of sulphur 
to the vine, but this cannot be done without in- 
conveniences to which the persons affected do not 
readily submit; it might, however, be tried by those 
whose hair is naturally greasy. In other cases, and 
especially in those in which the hair is dry, as it 
usually is in persons affected by Pityriasis capitis, 
pomades must be used, although it has been asserted, 
but not proved, that fatty substances afford nourish- 
ment to the fungus, 
However this may be, the pomade for which we 
