BEARD, the hair which grows on the upper lip, and on the chin and checks of the male sex. It is usually, though not always, of the same color as the hair of the head, but somewhat shorter, stronger, and more wiry; it is invariably the color of the hair on the eyebrows. The B. is the distinctive sign of manhood. In women, an incipient B. sometimes appears in the litter years of life. Instances also occur of women with a B. almost equal to that of the male sex, but these are recorded as prodigies. The B. is generally luxuriant in persons of the Slavic and Celtic races. The aborigines of Amer ica, who are naturally almost beardless, make themselves entirely so by plucking out the hairs of the beard. In early times, the B. was considered by almost all nations a sign of strength and an ornament of manhood, was carefully cherished, and regarded as sacred. Among the Turks, ArabS, Persians, and many other nations, the removal of the B. was, and is yet to a very great extent, regarded as a severe punishment and an extreme degradation. The case of David's ambassadors, recorded iu 2 Samuel, chap. x., illustrates the same feeling as prevalent among the ancient Jews. The Mos lems carry combs constantly about with them for the purpose of dressing the beard. It is conunou to do so immediately after prayers, the devotee remaining on his knees during the operation. The hairs that fall out are then carefully picked up and preserved for entombment with their owner when he dies; frequently he himself deposits them beforehand in his destined tomb. The ancient Jews did not dye their beards, and the Turks rarely, but the practice was common among the Arabs and Persians. The Arabs dyed the B. red, not only because dye of that color (being merely a paste of henna leaves) was easily obtainable, but because it was an approximation to golden yellow, the color recommended by their prophet Mohammed, who hated black, the color the Persians preferred. The Persian kings are said to have interwoven their beards with gold thread. It is customary among the Turks to anoint the B. with perfume, and to smoke it with incense. The Jews also anointed their beards. The Moslems commonly clipped their whiskers, the Jews did not. The Egyptians shaved their beards except in time of mourning, when they let them grow. From some of the ancient Egyptian statues, however, it would appear that beard-cases were worn, which would seem to indicate that the practice of shaving was not universal. The fashions of beards have been very different at different times and in different countries.
A neglected B. was a sign of mourning among the Jews. According to Levi's Sue einet Account of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews at this Present rme, they are forbid den to shave or cut their nails, or bathe for 30 days after the death of a father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, wife, or husband. In Greece, the B. was universally worn till the time of Alexander the great, who ordered shaving, that the beards of his soldiers might not be laid hold of by their enemies in battle. Shaving was introduced among the Romans about 300 Ike. Pliny says Scipio Africanus WAS the first Roman who shaved every day. Subsequently, the first day of shaving was regarded by the Romans as the entrance upon manhood, and celebrated with great festivities. Under Hadrian, the B. was allowed to grow again; and this fashion prevailed till the time of Constantine the great, when it was discontinued. Peter the great compelled shaving in Russia by impos
ing a heavy tax upon the B., and further, by having the beards of all whom he found wearing them plucked out by the roots, or shaved with a blunt razor. The B. was com monly worn in France till the time of Louis XIII., when, because the monarch was young and beardless, the fashion changed at the court and throughout the kingdom. A similar change took place in Spain on the accession of Philip V. With regard to our own country, the Anglo-Saxons wore beards for a considerable time after their invasion of Britain; and the B. appears to have been general among the people at the time of the Norman conquest. But the :Normans not only shaved themselves, but compelled the conquered to do so likewise; and many of the English preferred to leave the country rather than submit to have their whiskers shaved. It would appear, however, from the sculptured representations on the tombs of kings and nobles, that not very long after the conquest some of the Normans adopted the custom they had prohibited among the van quished. Edward III. is represented on his tomb in Westminster abbey with a very long beard. In the time of Elizabeth, beards were of the most varied and fantastic cut. Taylor, the "water-poet," thus satirizes the extravagance of beards prevailing in that and the succeeding reign: Some seem as they were starched stiff and fine, Like to tht, bristles of some angry swine; Some cut and pruned like to a quick-set hedge, Some like a spade, some like a fork, some square.
Some round, some mowed like stubble. some stark bare; Some sharp stiletto-fashion, dagger-like, That may with whispering, a man's eyes out-pike, Some with the hammer-cut, or Roman T, The B. gradually declined under Charles I.; in the reign of Charles II., whiskers and mustaches only were worn; and the practice of shaving the whole face soon became general all over Europe; and it is only within the last 70 years that the B. has been in some measure restored, the soldiers of Bonaparte setting the example. But until within the last 30 years, it was regarded by some of the continental governments as a badge significant of democratic sentiments, and as such was interfered with by police regula tions. Physicians recommend that the B. should be allowed to grow on the chin and throat in cases of liability to inflammation of the larynx or of the bronchia; and mus taches and whiskers are reckoned useful for prevention of toothaches and nervous dis eases of the face. Tile British soldier:4in the Critnea were allowed to wear their beards; and with some limitations, the British army generally are now permitted to do so. The wearing of the 13.•has, in short, been a matter of fashion in all ages and emintrics—an extreme hi one way usually leading to an extreme in the other. At present, the tendency in England and elsewhere is to let the B. grow, though in a way suggested by the taste of the individual. The B. is itself liable to the same diseases with the hair of the head, and to it peculiar disease (mentitgra) occasioned or kept 'up by shaving, consisting in a bark-like exudation from theintiamed sebaceous glands of the hair. For detailed infor mation, see Kitto's Pictorial Bible; Bulwer's Cltangeting (Loud. Bolo man's Pog6nias (Leyden, 1586), reprinted in the Lexicon of Pitiscus; Taylor's 3irldp of 'Satire, ere.