Part 40

Hair may be considered a vegetation from the surface of the body. In a state of health, hairs are insensible, and it is more than probable that they possess no nerves, and that the circulation is carried on in the same manner as in plants. In the bulb or root of the hair, however, the vessels that promote this circulation are numerous, and there we may trace the diseases that affect this beauteous ornament of mankind, more especially in the Caucasian race. Long hair, of course, requires more nutriment than scanty locks, and some physicians have been of opinion that their great length debilitates. Dr. Parr affirms that he has observed symptoms of plethoric congestion to arise after long hair had been suddenly cut off.

Vauquelin has made curious experiments on this substance. A solution of black hair has deposited a black matter containing bitumen, sulphur, and iron; and alcohol extracted from the same coloured hair a whitish and a grayish-green oil. Red hair yielded whitish matter and a blood-red oil. White hair contained phosphate of magnesia, affording a proof of the disposition towards the formation of calcareous matter in old age. When hair becomes suddenly white under the shock of a severe moral impression, Vauquelin is of opinion that this phenomenon is to be attributed to the sudden extrication of some acid, as the oxymuriatic acid is found to whiten black hair. Parr thinks that this accident may be owing to an absorption of the oil of the hair by its sulphur, as in the operation of whitening woollen cloths.

The _plica_ is a curious and disgusting malady, that has been considered a disease of the hair, which, according to vulgar report, secreted and shed blood. This affection is common and endemic in Poland; hence the term _Polonica_ that has been given to it. The invasion of this pestilence has been traced to the irruption of the Moguls, from 1241 to 1287, chiefly under the command of Cayuk, grandson of Yenghiz. The most absurd tales were then related of the manner in which this dreaded infection was propagated. Spondanus affirms that it arose from the waters having been poisoned by venomous plants. Pistorius and Pauli relate that these waters were corrupted by the great number of human hearts that the Moguls cast in rivers and in wells. This supposition arose from the unheard-of acts of barbarity perpetrated by the ferocious invaders on the wretched population of Prussia, Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. Their refined cruelty has been depicted by Gebhardi, in his history of Hungary, in the most glowing language.

Other historians assert that the plica originated in the East; such is the opinion of Stabel, Spreugel, and other writers. Rodrigo de Fonseca relates that the Indians, after drinking certain waters, were attacked with a disease in which the hair became agglomerated and matted in the most disgusting manner. Erndtel attributes the malady in Poland to the gluttonous consumption of horseflesh. However this may be, Poland has been ever considered the country most exposed to this visitation.

This disease affords a convincing proof of the vascularity of the hair, since it tumefies, augments in capacity so as to allow an evident circulation of blood, as the hairs will often bleed when divided with the scissors. Dr. Kerckhoffs regards the malady as the mere result of the custom among the filthy Poles of letting the hair grow to an immense length, of never combing or cleaning it, and always keeping the head covered with a woollen or leathern cap. Hence he observes that the rich are generally exempt from the affection which particularly prevails amongst the Jews. With this view of the disorder, he thinks that cleanliness and the excision of the matted hair are sufficient to effect a cure.

It is, however, more than probable that other causes occasion this horrible disease; and there is but little doubt that the system is affected by a particular virus. In many instances affections of the head complicate it; although it is likely that they may result from the constant irritation of the scalp, that sympathizes so powerfully with the membranes of the brain.

The different names given to the _plica_ indicate more or less the ideas that prevail regarding its nature. The Poles call it _gwozdiec_ or _gwodziec_, which signifies a _nail_ that splits the wood into which it is driven. In the district of the Roxolans it is termed _koltun_, _a stake_. In Germany superstitious fancies have also given it various curious denominations. It is called _alpzopf_ and _schraitelzopf_, as being the result of the _malefices_ of vampires and incubi. By some it is asserted that the Moravians, natural enemies of the Poles, not having been able to conquer them by their arms, had recourse to magical art to inflict this scourge: hence they term it _mahrenflechten_, _mahrenwichtung_. To this day it is called _hexenzopf_ and _bichteln_, or unbaptized, alluding, no doubt, to the Jews, who were accused of having introduced the disorder in the deadly hate they bore the Christians; hence was it also known by the name of _Judenzopf_ (_Coma Judaeorum_).

Amongst the whimsical ideas to which the _plica_ has given rise, the most extraordinary effort of the imagination was that of Hercules Saxoniae. He maintained that the fabulous description of the heads of the Gorgons and the Furies was derived from this affection: "_Caput Gorgoneum, caput Furiarum, vera humana capita fuisse, et fictitiis poetarum occasionem praebuisse_."

There are instances on record of infants being born with this loathsome malady. Davidson attributes this circumstance to the mental impressions of the mother: "_Si ita matris ac nutricis superstitioni placere libuerit_." The length of the matted hair in plica is frequently considerable: Bachstrom relates the case of a Prussian woman whose hair extended beyond the sides of her bed, and she was in the habit of turning it over to make a quilt of it; Caligerus saw a man in Copenhagen whose clotted locks were six feet three inches in length; and Rzaczyinski gives an account of a woman whose hair measured six ells. In the museum of Dr. Meckel, at Halle, is to be seen a specimen of the disease eight feet long. The beard and the hair of other parts of the body are equally liable to these attacks; while the affection has been observed in horses, dogs, and other animals. A curious case is related on this subject by Dr. Schlegel: A drunken coachman was carried away by a pair of spirited young horses, who precipitated themselves, with the fragments of the broken carriage, into the Moskwa. One of the animals was drowned; but the other contrived to extricate itself, and swam ashore. It continued sick for a considerable time, and, on its convalescence the plica broke out in its entire coat.

The assertion that the hairs become endowed with sensibility in this disorder is unfounded. The pain is experienced in the root or bulb; thus a painful sensation is occasionally felt when a lock of hair has been turned back under the nightcap. There is little doubt that the plica is to be attributed to a specific virus, which pervades the whole system unless successfully treated. The most serious accidents have arisen from neglecting it; and Starnigelio gives the following horrible account of its ravages. "Magno omnium malo magnoque cruciatu divagatur: infringit ossa, laxat artus, vertebras eorum infestat. Membra conglobat et retorquet; gibbos efficit, pediculos fundit, caputque aliis atque aliis succedentibus ita opplet, ut nequaquam purgari possit. Si cirri raduntur, humor ille et virus in corpus relabitur, et affectos, ut supra scriptum est, torquet; caput, manus, pedes, omnes artus, omnes juncturas, omnes corporis partes exagitat."

Amongst the various specifics recommended for the cure of plica, is the _lycopodium_, hence called _herba plicaria_; the _vinca_, or _perventia_. The [Greek: daphnoeides] and [Greek: kamai daphne] of the Greeks was also extolled, possibly from its supposed powers in cases of incantation, whence Apuleius calls it "_victoria, quod vinceret pervinceretque injuriam temporis_." This is the plant for which Rousseau felt such a predilection, that in after life he never beheld it without experiencing a delightful recollection of the pleasures of his boyhood. Its flowers are considered the symbol of virginity, and in Flanders are still called _Maegden-palm_. In Etruria maidens are crowned with a wreath of it on their funerals.

The decay and fall of the hair is an accident of frequent occurrence. This unpleasant drawback on vanity has been termed _alopecia_, from the Greek word [Greek: alopex], _vulpes_, a _fox_; this animal and the wolf being said to lose their hair and become bald sooner than any other quadruped. The Arabian writers were impressed with the same belief, and named the affection _daustaleb_, literally the _wolf disease_. Baldness is more frequent in males than in females; and it has been observed, that emasculated subjects are exempt from its visitation.

Amongst the singular anomalies that characterize our ideas, the respect in which hair (naturally unclean unless most carefully attended to) was held at various periods is as singular as the fond devotion with which it is treasured when having belonged to the objects of our affections. In ancient Rome neglected hair was the badge of bondage, and slaves were distinguished by the _capillum passum, fluxum, et intonsum_. Free men, on the contrary, took great care of it; and the term _caesaries_ is said to be derived from the frequency of its cutting, while _coma_ alluded to the great attention paid to its ornamental appearance. The Gauls wore long hair, and their country was thence called _Gallia Comata_. The German chiefs, deprived of their rank and power, were shorn of their locks as a mark of degradation and loss of strength. Shaving the heads of criminals is to this day considered ignominious.

Hair, most unquestionably, constitutes the proudest ornament of female beauty; and clustering locks, compared both by the ancients and the Oriental poets to the growth of grapes, has ever been considered a _desideratum_ at the female toilet, artificial means to curl it having been resorted to from time immemorial, even by men. We find Virgil speaking contemptuously of Aeneas for the care he took of his locks:

Vibratos calido ferro, myrrhaque madentes.

The Romans called a man who thus frizzled himself, _homo calamistratus_.

Crisp and curled ringlets were ever admired, and Petrarch thus describes them:

Aura che quelle chiome bionde e _crespe_ Circondi, e movi, e se mossa de loro Soave mente, e spargi quel dolce oro E poi'l raccogli, e'n bei nodi _l'increspe_.

Apuleius maintains, that if Venus were bald, though circled by the graces and the loves, she would not please even swarthy Vulcan. Petronius, in his description of Circe, describes her tresses naturally curling, and falling negligently over her shoulders, which they entirely covered. Apuleius praises her trailing locks, thick and long, and insensibly curling, dispersed over her divine neck, softly undulating with carelessness. Ovid notices those beauties who platted their braided hair like spiral shells. Petronius, to give an idea of a perfect beauty, says, that her forehead was small, and showed the roots of her hair raised upwards. This fashion, adopted by the Chinese, was not long ago a modish _coeffure_ in France. Lucian, however, makes Thais say of a rival courtezan, "Who can praise her person, unless he is blind? Does she not draw up her scanty hair on her large forehead?"

The ancients also perfumed their hair, especially on festivals, with various ointments, composed of the spikenard and different balsams. They also occasionally painted it with a bright yellow. Unhappy must have been the poor slaves who had to attend a Roman lady's toilet; if a single ringlet was displaced, the scourge was applied, and the _cow-skin_ of our West Indian planters, the _Taurea_ ("_scutica de pene taurino_") brought into play; and not unfrequently the head of the offender was broken with the steel mirror that betrayed their negligence to the impatient fair one. As we are on the subject of female ingenuity in endeavouring to spread their nets more cunningly, it may be some comfort to our modern coquettes to know that antiquity seems to sanction the use of rouge, notwithstanding the fate of Jezabel. Plautus tells us that the Roman dames daubed their faces with the "_fucus_, compound of white lead and of vermilion:" hence were they called _fucatae_, _cerusatae_, and _minionatae_. Various cosmetics were also employed, and, when at home, their faces were preserved with a coat of paste, the skin having been previously rubbed with a pumice-stone, and then washed with asses' milk. Poppaea, the wife of Nero, had five hundred asses milked every day for her baths; and when she was exiled, a reduction of her establishment to fifty asses was considered a severe chastisement. Patches were also worn, of various shapes and dimensions, even by men; and Pliny tells us of one Regulus, a lawyer, who put a patch upon his right or left eye as he was going to plead for plaintiff or defendant.

The ancients also wore a certain hair-powder, a custom that was only revived in Europe in the seventeenth century, since it appears that this filthy fashion was brought in vogue at the fair of St. Germain, in 1614, by some beautiful ballad-singers.

In ancient mythology, hair was the symbol of life. All dead persons were supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the infernal deities, and no man could resign his life until some of his hair was cut off. Euripides introduces Death going to cut off some of the hair of Alcestis, when doomed to die instead of her husband Admetus; and Virgil describes Dido unable to resign her life, from her hair having been cut off by Proserpine, until Iris was sent by Juno to perform the kind office:

"Hunc ego Diti Sacrum jussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo." Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat; omnis et una Dilapsus, calor, atque in ventos vita recessit.

Locks of hair were suspended over the door of the deceased, to show that the family were in mourning. On these occasions, the hair was torn, cut off, or shaved. It was then sometimes strewed over the dead body, or cast on the funeral pile. On the demise of great men, whole cities and communities were shorn, while animals shared a similar fate. Admetus, on the death of Alcestis, ordered this operation to be performed on his chariot horses: and when Masistius was slain by the Athenians, the Persians shaved themselves, their horses, and their mules. Alexander, not satisfied with this testimony of grief, ordered the very battlements of a city to be knocked down, that the town might look bald and shorn of its beauty.

While in some cases bald heads were expressive of affliction, in others long hair denoted grief; Joseph allowed his hair to grow during his captivity; and Mephibosheth did the same when David was banished from Jerusalem. Juvenal informs us that mariners, on their escape from shipwreck, shaved their heads; and Lycophron describes long and neglected hair as a sign of general lamentation.

To be shaved by barbers was a proof of cheerfulness; but to cut off one's own hair denoted mourning. Hence Artemidorus informs us that for a man to dream of shaving himself was a presage of some calamity. However, this ceremony may, in its signification, be attributed to the customs of the various nations. Where the hair was generally worn short, its length indicated grief, and _vice versa_. The filth of long and neglected hair might also have been considered a proper and respectful mark of tribulation; for the ancients fancied that rolling themselves in the dirt was a convincing proof of affection; and we see Oeneus besmearing himself with nastiness on the death of his son Meleager:

Pulvere canitiem genitor, vultusque seniles Foedat humi fusos, spatiosumque increpat aevum.

Shaving was also a nuptial ceremony, when virgins presented their hair to Venus, Juno, Minerva, Diana, and other propitious divinities. At Troezene virgins were obliged to sacrifice their hair to Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, who died for his chastity. The Megarensian maidens presented them to Sphinoe, daughter of Alcathous, who died a virgin. Statius records this ceremony, when speaking of Minerva's temple:

Hic more parentum Insides, thalamis ubi casta adolescerat aetas, Virgineas libare comas; primosque solebant Excusare toros.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

Are we to give credit to the various observations that record the wonderful effects of animal magnetism; or should we reject them as the impostures of knaves, or the result of the credulity of fools? It is now nearly half a century since this method of relieving diseases has been introduced by modern practitioners. Thousands of disinterested and candid witnesses have corroborated their assertions, and testified to their veracity. How, then, are we authorized to treat this doctrine as visionary or fraudulent? The most learned bodies have not thought it derogatory to their dignity to investigate the matter; and, notwithstanding opposition, ridicule, and contempt, the practice obtains to the present day. It has, no doubt, been materially impeded in its progress by the invectives of occasional scepticism; but such will ever be the case with science, and those discoveries which accelerate its inevitable empire on the human understanding. Persecution may be considered as the harbinger of truth, or, at any rate, of that investigation which directs to it. Pythagoras was banished from Athens; Anaxagoras was immured in a dungeon; Democritus was considered a maniac, and Socrates condemned to death. An advanced and honourable old age did not protect Galileo against his barbarous persecutors. Varolius was decreed an infamous and execrable man for his anatomical discoveries, and our immortal Harvey was looked upon as a dangerous madman. Inoculation and vaccination were deemed impious attempts to interfere with the decrees of Providence.

Magnetism may be defined as a reciprocal influence which is supposed to exist between individuals, arising from a state of relative harmony, and brought into action by the will, the imagination, or physical sensibility. This influence is said to exist in a peculiar fluid, transmissible from one body to another under certain conditions of each individual, without which the expected results are not manifest. Under these conditions, the effects of animal magnetism are obtained by manual application, by gestures, words, and even looks, more frequently, as may be easily conceived, with nervous, weak, and impressionable individuals. By these means magnetizers affirm that they can effect cures when all other remedial endeavours have been of no avail, either when the patient is awake or in a state of artificial somnambulism.

The history of this doctrine is curious. The ancients fully admitted the power of sympathy in the cure of diseases; but generally attributed its

## action to the interference of Divinity, or the operation of sorcery and

enchantment. A remarkable affinity can be traced between modern magnetism and its supposed phenomena, and the relations of the Pythian and Sibylline oracles, the wonders of the caverns of Trophonius and Esculapius, and the miraculous dreams and visions in the temples of the gods. Amongst the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and Romans, we constantly discover traces of this supposed power of manual apposition, friction, breathing, and the use of the charms of music and mystic amulets. The Egyptian priesthood were considered as possessing a divine attribute in healing diseases. Prosper Alpinus, in his treatise on the medicine of the Egyptians, informs us that mysterious frictions were one of their secret remedies. The patients were oftentimes wrapped in the skins of animals, and carried into the sanctuary of their temples to be assisted by visions, that appeared either to them or to their physicians, who pretended that Isis was the immortal source of these celestial inspirations. The same divine assistance was firmly believed by the Hebrews. It was intimated to Miriam and Aaron that the Lord would make himself known to them in a vision, and speak to them in a dream; and we find in Deuteronomy that the signs and the wonders of prophets and dreamers of dreams were to be considered as the abominations of idolaters, who were to be put to death without pity. This anathema on false prophets was not unfrequently rigorously carried into execution, and we read in the Book of Kings the destruction of all the worshippers of Baal. Ahab marched upon Ramoth-Gilead by the advice of his prophets.

The sympathetic power of corporeal apposition was illustrated when Elisha, to revive the widow's child, stretched himself three times upon him and prayed to the Lord. When Elisha restored the child of the Shunamite to life he lay upon it, put his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself upon the child, and the child opened its eyes. Miracles were generally wrought by manual application or elevation. Naaman expected that Elisha would have stricken his hand over the place to cure his leprosy; and we find in the Scriptures that our SAVIOUR healed the sick upon whom he laid his hands. Amongst the Greeks we again see the same ceremonies performed on all wonderful recoveries. Plutarch tells us that Pyrrhus cured persons with diseased spleens by passing his hand over the seat of the malady. Aelianus informs us that the Psylli performed their cures by stretching themselves upon the patients, and making them swallow water with which they had rinsed their mouths; and he also mentions that those who approached these mysterious agents were seized with a sudden stupor, and deprived of their intellects until they had left them. Apollonius brought a young girl to life by touching her, and leaning over her as though he were whispering some magic words in her ear; and Origenes affirms that there were sages who dispensed health with their mere breath. Vespasian restored sight to the blind by rubbing their eyes and cheeks with his saliva, and cured a paralytic by merely touching him: the same emperor kept himself in perfect health by frequently rubbing his throat and his body. From a passage of Plautus, it appears that this manual application was resorted to in his days to procure sleep. Mercury is made to say, "Quid si ego illum tractem, tangam ut dormiat;" to which Sosia replies, "Servaveris, nam continuas has tres noctes pervigilavi."

Pliny maintains that there exist persons whose bodies are endowed with medicinal properties; but he admits, at the same time, that imagination may produce these salutary emanations. Celsus informs us that Asclepiades by friction could calm a phrensy; and further states, that when these frictions were carried to too great an extent, they brought on a lethargic state. Caelius Aurelianus recommends manual frictions for the cure of pleurisy, lethargy, and various other maladies, describing the manner in which they are to be conducted: for instance, in epilepsy, the head and forehead are to be chafed, then the hand is to be carried gently over the neck and bosom; at other times, the extremities of the hands and feet are to be grasped, that "we may cure by the very act of holding the limb."