380 THE CHIGNON FUNGUS. 
may be distinguished even with the naked eye. These 
are gregarines. Out of thirty samples of hair procured 
from a hairdresser in Nishni Novgorod, gregarines were 
found in seventy-five per cent. And it is well known 
that the hair used for the chignons of the better half of 
Russia is bought of the poor peasant women, who are 
proverbially of dirty habits. Pursuing his inquiry, Mr. 
Lindemann has discovered that almost every louse has in 
its interior an enormous number of gregarines, and he 
convinced himself by further experiments that the grega- 
rines on the human hair are deposited there by lice. He 
observes that the most favorable conditions for the growth 
of gregarine are light, increased temperature, and a moist 
atmosphere ; and he declares that in the ballroom these 
are not without their influence on the parasites when they — 
exist on false hair, for they at once revive, grow, and 
multiply, get disseminated in millions, and in consequence 
of the increased respiration produced by the exertion of 
dancing, are inhaled freely into the lungs, reach their 
specific gregarine nature, and after a while induce disease 
in the body.” 
In these quotations prevalent fashions were depicted as 
sources of danger, inducing discomfort and disease. A 
writer in one of the daily papers (“Investigator”) assert- 
ed that he had witnessed from direct observation the 
development of gregarine into lice, an assumption that 
implies a liberty with Darwinism that its most zealous 
and radical devotees would at the present time hesitate to 
suggest. It is only just to say that the Lancet, which 
first noticed the matter, and confined itself to a mere 
mention of the facts, urged its readers to accept the state- 
ments put forth, with the gravest caution. Lindemann’s 
assertions are very startling to scientific men, because 
