These little elevations became brownish at the end of a few
days, and short, fair, silky hair was observed on the summit of
each, which grew so rapidly that the whole surface of the body
with the exception of the hands and face became velvety. The hair
thus evolved was afterward thrown out spontaneously and was not
afterward reproduced.
Anomalies of the Color of the Hair.--New-born infants sometimes
have tufts of hair on their heads which are perfectly white in
color. Schenck speaks of a young man whose beard from its first
appearance grew white. Young men from eighteen to twenty
occasionally become gray; and according to Rayer, paroxysms of
rage, unexpected and unwelcome news, diseases of the scalp such
as favus, wounds of the head, habitual headache, over-indulgence
of the sexual appetite, mercurial courses too frequently
repeated, too great anxiety, etc., have been known to blanch the
hair prematurely.
The well-accepted fact of the sudden changing of the color of the
hair from violent emotions or other causes has always excited
great interest, and many ingenious explanations have been devised
to account for it. There is a record in the time of Charles V of
a young man who was committed to prison in 1546 for seducing his
girl companion, and while there was in great fear and grief,
expecting a death-sentence from the Emperor the next day.
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