474 
REVIEW. 
merely for ornament. €e Utility, which expresses supreme 
wisdom, characterises all the manifestations of Omnipotent 
power.” “ Utility, and not beauty, as a mere external orna- 
ment, is stamped upon the infinite variety of Nature’s 
works.” The regions in which this appendage is most 
abundantly developed, in the human subject, are those dis- 
tinguished by a concentration of nervous matter and excited 
vital actions ; hence, correct views of the nervous system 
can alone explain the causes of the growth of hair. 
“ It is evident that the brain is an exceedingly active organ, the opera- 
tions of which are not distinguished by any secretions like those to which 
we have alluded, or what falls under actual observation. It cannot be 
doubted, for it is a law pervading both animal and vegetable nature, that 
every vital process, whatever may be its office, conduoes not only to a 
definite result essential to the well-being of the individual ; but, further, is 
accompanied by the discharge of useless substances, the properties of which 
we may leave for subsequent consideration : the excretion of them is indis- 
pensable to the normal or healthy actions of the structures by which they 
are produced. 
“We will endeavour to render our meaning clear and intelligible. The 
stomach, the liver, the pancreas, and the small intestines, contribute their 
vital resources towards the accomplishment of the digestive process. On 
the completion of it, matters arising from the action of these organs accu- 
mulate in the alimentary canal, useless for the purposes of nutrition, and 
prejudicial if retained, are expelled in the condition of faeces. It may fur- 
ther be observed, that every organ of the animal economy, according to its 
capacity, function, and activity, relieves itself of various chemical elements, 
the residue of vital processes, and are ultimately thrown off by the kidneys, 
the skin, the lungs, and the intestines. 
“ The regions where hair abundantly exists, as the head, face, pubis, axilla, 
and frequently the chest in the male, are the seat of, as well as in the 
vicinity of, excited vital actions ; and the superfluous matters which these 
create have to be expelled, and a great proportion of them finds an exter- 
nal issue in connection with the tissues which generate them. These tissues 
are very differently circumstanced, from the internal organs to which we 
have adverted, both with respect to the character of the operations carried 
on in them, and the nature of the organic results to which they give 
rise.” 
As to the uses of this appendage, Dr. Bostock observes : 
“ One obvious use of hair, in the inferior animals, is to protect the body 
from external cold, but except on the head, this cannot be considered as 
applying to the human species; nor can we easily conceive what is its ob- 
ject in our economy ; yet it is contrary to our ideas of the nature of things 
to suppose, that what is so constantly found to exist should not be formed 
for some useful purpose.’ 
“Dunglison, in his admirable work on physiology, remarks, ‘It is difficult 
to assign a plausible use for the hair. That of the head has already en- 
gaged our attention ; but the hair which appears on certain parts at the age 
