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.

    119/600 (page 107)
    a preference to the circular shave, which was and is performed by making bald a small round spot on the very crown of the head, and leaving it encircled by hair. The Scottish monks, on the other hand, adopted the semi-circular mode, and shaved the forepart of their head from ear to ear, in the form of a cres- cent. * Greyness of the hair.—When speaking of baldness, we may as well refer to the change of colour which the hair undergoes as age advances. This is a natural and physiological process; but it may be greatly hastened by trouble and severe study. In many cases, the premature blanching of the hair is hereditary, and not to be accounted for by any cause for which the individual himself is responsible. It is an old belief that those who turn grey early, die early. Allow me to contradict this assertion most emphati- cally. There is no foundation for it whatever. Under ordinary circumstances the change takes place gradu- ally. It commences, as a rule, on the temples, and travels towards the crown. Ultimately it involves the whole head. Parti- coloured hairs may be frequently found: of these it is usually the basal portion which is white while the terminal part retains its colour. This is an interesting fact, because it shows that the change may occur during the life of an individual hair.f But what produces this condition of hair ? Two factors would seem to be at work, viz., (1) a loss of the power to produce pigment; (2) an increase of air in the shaft of the hair. Up to the present I have merely referred to the gradual change of colour with which we are all familiar. Sometimes, hoAvever, it occurs suddenly—in the course, perhaps, of a few hours. Many cases of this kind have been recorded by thoroughly reliable witnesses. Fear, overpowering grief, and other strong emotions, are the agents which bring about this remarkable result. We * Church History of Scotland, by John Cunningham, D.D. t Brown-Sequard made some very remarkable observations upon his own beard whilst it was turning grey. He marked certain of the coloured hairs and kept a constant watch upon them. He states that in some instances an entire hair would turn grey in the course of a night.