OJ 



6 G. A. J. VAN DER SAXDE. 



Suspending a longer hair, containing one, two or more turning-points, but of which the number of right 

 and left spiral twists correspond, no turning of the pincers can be noticed, proving that the torsion the 

 hair undergoes between two turning-points is relieved by the latter. 



That the existence of the turns, hère described, has remained unnoticed up till now, may be attributed 

 to the custom of packing up samples of hair in envelopes, owing to which on their voyage home they 

 are pressed, and when received in the laboratory the form is difficult to be judged. D'Albertis [1880, 

 II, 19] regarding the hair of Kiwai Islanders wrote that it "was that of the genuine Negro", but this 

 author was not aware of the turns, which possibly will prove to be a distinctive race-character. The 

 Negrito hair, on the other hand, as described by Pincus [1873, 155] and Schadenberg [1880], has so 

 many qualities in common with the Papuan, that I should not wonder if on closer examination the 

 former might prove also to possess the typical turning-points. 



Papuan hair is hard and coarse (see also MoSELEY [1877, 385]), somewhat like 

 horsehair, so it seems to the touch (BlRO [189g, 3]), and HAGEN [1899, 158; 1906, 38] writes 

 that it feels like a mattress, — which of course is due to the spring-like spirals. 



The total length to which Papuan hair can grow is nowhere mentioned; indeed it 

 can only be found out by calculation. Maclay 1. c. erroneously thinks that Earl fixes the 

 maximum length at one foot, whilst in reality the length of (the axis of) the tress is meant. 

 On examination I found that a single hair when stretched is about three times as long as 

 the tress it originates from, a resuit that might be expected, where the height and diameter 

 of the spirals are often equal. Tresses a foot long therefore may correspond with a hair 

 length of about 90 cm.. 



The thickness of the hair of the head was given by MACLAY [1873^ 234] and 

 FlNSCH [1888 — 93, 184] as equal to, and by BlRO [1899, 3] as i ] / 2 times, that of the Euro- 

 pean. Exact ciphers were given by PRUNER-BEY [1877, 80], who in the sections found the 

 diameters 290:100 and 250:70 for the flattest, 250:140 for the widest; also 320:140 and 

 280:130, ail in microns. (Of the Melanesians he gives 220:150, 240:180, 300:200 and 

 330:220). I must remark that the measuring of the diameters of hair in its cross-section, 

 gives rise to many faulty results. The hair of the Papuan is so hard and coarse, that in 

 trying to make fine sections of 5 or 7.5 microns, it easily shifts in the médium (PRUNER-BEY: 

 "collapses in the direction of its length"), even when celloidin is used. Then the section is 

 not only misformed, but moreover not quite under 90 to the axis and will always give too 

 high ciphers, occasionally also a faulty proportion between the long and short diameters. 

 Seeing the high ciphers of PRUNER-BEY, up to about '/ s millimeter(!), I resolved to use 

 another method. A hair was gently stretched horizontally under the microscope, and whilst 

 turning it round the axis I noted the various transverse diameters that presented themselves, 

 the highest and the lovvest of course being the long and the short diameter resp.. In this 

 way I found the hair of maie adults in minimum 109 by 65 microns, in maximum 136 by 

 87, average 125 by y6 , with women 81 by 49 microns; in ail the hairs the short diameter 

 being ± ° no of the long diameter. Thèse ciphers are much lower than those given by Pruner- 

 Bey, but agrée better with those of GUPPY 1. c. regarding the Christoval natives, being 

 between 94 and 120 microns. With the tresses of Papua Tâlandjang the hair is placed on 

 edge and may be compared with a flat ribbon, wound spirally round a cylinder, the largest 

 diameter of the hair lying in the circumferential plane. This is also the case in the turning- 



