82 PEOSE HALIEITTICS. 



roe of the pike is said by some authors to have produced 

 symptoms almost as untoward.' 



The cultivation of the haif has always been regarded 

 as an important concern, both in ancient and modem 

 times. To make it grow, to prevent its falling off, or to 

 change its colour by art when nature has not been propi- 

 tious, are and have been the endeavours of mankind from 

 the earliest periods to the present. For the first of these 

 purposes the means anciently adopted were as various 

 and about as efficacious as the cantharides, the quinine, 

 the Macassar oil, and the twenty other equally vaunted 

 nostrums to which it is to be regretted that some respec- 

 table names are stiU occasionally attached as vouchers ; 

 but having no faith in them ourself, we wiU not obtrude 

 them upon the reader. Next, in regard to colouring the 

 hair : 



If any man is disposed to colour his hair black (says Pliny), let 

 him make an ointment of calcined sea-urchins and laid, and apply 

 this to the part that he wishes to become black, he will find it 

 presently succeed to his wishes ; as infaUible also is a liniment 

 composed of horse-leeches boiled in vinegar, u^ed frequently as a 

 fomentation. 



We suspect the Roman practice here to have been 

 greatly ia arrear of modem improvements. The French, 

 as all the world knows, have a variety of colouring fluids, 

 but even they seem to be outdone' by the Sikhs, whose 

 chiefs dye their hair, beards, and whiskers of various 

 hues, — white, black, red, and particoloured, according to 

 the fancy of the wearer, which is more than was ever 

 attempted either by Frenchman or Roman. One extra- 

 ordinary object with them was to thwart nature, and, 

 contrary to the common usage of encouraging the hair 

 to grow, to prevent its growth : 



For this purpose (says the Latin Buffon) the blood, liver, or 

 bile of the thunny, are to be sedulously rubbed on the scalp ; a 

 device first hit upon by the famous midwife Salpe, who, by ren- 

 dering boys beardless, enhanced their value for sale. 



