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.

    118/600 (page 106)
    man to premature loss of hair. It is in a high degree hereditary. In a few cases it may be due to early dissipation, and in some other instances it may be due to an imprudent life led by some ancestor. Far be it from me even to hint that this is the usual cause. No doubt mental worry and strain have a powerful effect in producing it; and the absurd form of hat which fashion has for so long a time condemned us to wear, must also be highly detrimental to hair-growth. Both silk and felt hats, by their stiff, hard margins, exercise a constricting influence around the head and compress both the blood-vessels and nerves of the scalp. In addition to this, they are seldom provided with proper means for ventilation, and therefore prevent that free evaporation from the scalp which is so essential for the health of the hair and its follicle. It is the custom of several races to produce artificial baldness by shaving the head. The Chinaman is perhaps the best example of this. He shaves the hair from the forehead and temples, and leaves only a circular patch which he allows to grow into a tail. The Andaman Islanders shave almost the entire surface of the scalp, as thoroughly as the imperfect implements at their command will allow them. Formerly they used chips of broken flint for this purpose, but since the arrival of Europeans upon their islands they can indulge in the luxury of a shave with a piece of broken bottle-glass. Such being the character of the razor you will not be surprised to hear that a wife takes a peculiar pleasure in shaving the head of her husband.^ In our own country a shaven crown was formerly the badge of priesthood. Towards the close of the fifth century it began to be regarded, both in the east and the west, as a necessary mark of the sacerdotal caste; and now the barber's razor was required to co-operate with the bishop's hand to constitute the priest. Two modes of shaving the clerical crown—the circular and the semi-circular—came into use ; but who were the inventors of them 1 History, with blameworthy carelessness, has neglected to record. The Eoman clergy gave * Letter from Lieut. Casey, R.N., at present stationed at Port Blair, Andaman Islands.