CAN FRIGHT WHITEN THE HAIR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10580, 8 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

CAN FRIGHT WHITEN THE HAIR.

Doubt is tluovn bv a mvcstigatoi, Professor Sticda, or Koiugsbcig, Gcimanj, on the populai belief that the hair may be whitened suddenly bj sliock. His studies lead him to behove that ban lioimalh whitens, not through change or disappearance of its ccloung-mattci, but ihiough actual substitution of one kind of han for another Such a change must depend, therefore, on the speed of growth We lead Hi The Lancet (London, ' Professoi Sti"do admits s» pigmented hail may become giav m its r>roximal pa it if the development of pigment in the ceases, ■so that the newly formed pait oi a pigmented hair may thus become coloilcss Tlic whitening, of the hair a&sociated with advancing \eais is iegaidod as a plnsiological process, but Professoi Sticdi allocs that agencies, such a= long gnei anxict\, and insanity, i*>av mdiicc similar chabges, winch aie, hones er, not necessauly permanent lho aicragc life of the hans is a mattei of ccnsideiablc importance in icgaid'to this question. Accoidmg to the observations of Dr Pmciis, ot Berlin, the long bans of the head last fioni tv.o to foui jeais, the shoit ones f:o n foui to niiio months Di Moll his calculated that the hie. of the e> clashes js from thiee to four moiiths Vanoas theories !\ric b~en put foii\ard to explain the supposed occaieuco of sudden wintemng of the hair. Vaiiqueha suggested that a substance mignt be ex- i crsted by the skin poneiful enough to destroy the pigment of the hair. Another suggestion, proposed Landois, ,nas to the effect,that a sudden accumulation of rir occurred vitbm the hairs. Mctchmkoff h?s supposed,, that ceitam phagocjtes 01 chiomophages enter the hair and withdiaw its P(gment. All of these suggestions Piofcssoi Stieda subjects to s very destructive cuticism, and he-concludes by affirming that all. the supposed cases oi sudden blanching of the hair aid either- instances of deception or of ulcorroct He gives several instances in point among them the histoncal example of Mane Antionette, vhose bair is have turned gray the night before her execution the fact being that she had been grayh aired foi sorao time previous!*. Ho also mentions the case of a medical practitioner with dark hair in Berlin who went into a. hospital to undergo an operation. On leaving he was much commisserated by many people ) owing to the fact that his hair was j snow-white. The truth, however, was ! that he was not able to dye his hair 35 ■ ho had previously done daily, mi explanation which .he appears to have withheld from his sympathisers."