Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    111/600 (page 99)
    of detecting criminals, or removing suspicion from innocent people, as, for instance, where hair has been found clinging to clothes or instruments which have been used for murderous purposes. Not long ago, portions of a dry parchment-like substance were found nailed to the doors of certain very old churches. On these being removed, minute hairs were observed springing from the surface, which on examination proved to be of human origin. The parchment was thus proved to be human figured were white. In Waldeyer's atlas of the hair, a hair of the chimpanzee is figured alongside a black and a white human head-hair, and in diameter it is the smallest of the three. His figure of the white human Fig. 4. 1. Human head-hair. 2. Head-hair of a Peruvian I^Iummy. 3. Human beard- hair. 4. Hair from the hack of the Chimpanzee. 5. Hair from the back of the Gorilla. G. Hair from the back of the Orang-Utan. head-hair is almost identical with the drawing which I have given of the hair taken from the back of the gorilla. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that it would be extremely difficult to distinguish human hair from the hair of the anthropoid apes. Indeed, I believe that in many cases it would be impossible.