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.

    95/600 (page 83)
    THE HAIR. By D. J. CUNNINGHAM, M.D., F.E.O.S.L, Peofessor of Anatomy and Chirurgery in the University of Dublin. I HAVE chosen the hair'' as the subject of my lecture to-night. It is true that the hair is in a great measure merely an appendage of the body, and one the condition of which does not affect us to such a degree as many of the organs which have been de- scribed to you in previous lectures, yet at all times and in all countries man has instinctively attached the highest importance to his crinal decoration. When I tell you that to make up for the ravages that time effects upon the head, more than a hundred tons of human hair are imported every year into Paris alone, and that white elderly hair of good quality sells for one guinea an ounce, you will understand the value set upon nature's covering. You will also understand the anxiety which we all feel to retain that which nature has provided for us free of cost. But this is a minor point. A wholesome condition of the hair is absolutely essential to our comfort and health. It behoves us, therefore, to give some attention to its structure and mode of growth, in order that we may thereby place ourselves in a position to care for it in a right manner. Distribution of the hair ujpon the lody,—With the exception of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet the skin is almost everywhere studded over with hairs. In few localities, however, does the hair attain any degree of thickness and length. These regions are the scalp, the eyebrows, the margins of the