HAIR, in physiology, slender, oblong, and flexible filaments, growing out of the pores of animals, and serving most of them as a covering. It consists of the bulb, situated under the skin, which is a nervous vesicle, and a trunk which per forates the skin and cuticle, and is cov ered with a peculiar vagina or sheath. The color of human hair depends on the medullary juice ; but there are also general differences of it, peculiar in some degree to the climates. In the hottest countries it is very black ; in the colder it is yellowish, brown, or inclining to red; but in all places it grows gray or white with age. In quadrupeds it is of the roost various conformation, from the finest wool to the bristles of a hog. The principal constituent parts of hair are animal matter, oil, silex, sulphur, car• bonate of lime, ,he. Among the ancients, from the earliest times, the hair of the bead was an object of especial care and attention. Among the Greeks, it at first was worn long by adults; boys, especially those of Sparta, until the age of puberty. wore their hair cropped close. At a later period, it was customary for ;nen to wear their hair cut short. The Athenian cus tom was the opposite of the Spartan ; the hair was worn long in childhood, and cut upon arriving at manhood. The cutting
of the hair was an act of solemnity, and performed with many ceremonies. The Roman youth, before the age of puberty, wore their hair in ringlets upon their shoulders; but about the time of putting on the toga virills, they cut it short; such of them, at least, as wished to dis tinguish themselves from the maccaro nis and effeminate coxcombs. The hair thus cut off was consecrated to Apollo, who is always represented with flowing hair, or to some other god, under whose protection they supposed themselves to he more immediately placed. In works of Art, the Ephebi (youth who had at tained the age of 18,) and the Atbleta are always represented with short heir. Among the females, it was the custom to confine the hair with a hand, or with net work, sometimes richly ornamented with gold and other metals, examples of which are seen in the paintings found at Pom peii. In other representations we find the hair inclosed in a kind of bag, made of various textile materials. The color which was most prized was blonde, al though black was the most common. In times of mourning the hair was cut short.