in the sacred text, would be sufficient to startle the most
enthusiastic modern dandy that cultivates the crinal ornament of his
person. Solomon the Wise, another son of David, conceived the beauty
of hair sufficiently dignified to express figuratively the graces of
the Church.

The hair, though devoid of sensibility and unsusceptible of expression
under the influence of the will and the ordinary mental feelings, like
the mobile portions of the face, and though it may be popularly
regarded rather in the light of a parasitic growth than as an
essential portion of the body, is capable of being affected by the
stronger emotions and passions, and even of aiding their expression in
the features. Who is there that, at some period or other of his life,
if only in childhood, in a moment of sudden terror or horror, has not
experienced the sensation popularly described as "the hair standing on
end?" Or who is there that, at some time or other, has not witnessed
the partial erection of the hair in children or females under like
violent emotions, or seen the representation of it in sculptures or
paintings? Those passions, so aptly styled by Gray the "vultures of
the mind," frequently affect with wonderful rapidity the health of
both the body and the mind, which wreck the hair soon sympathizes with
and shares. Instances are recorded in which violent grief in a few
weeks has blanched the hair and anticipated the effects of age; and
others in which intense terror or horror has affected the same with
even greater celerity, the change having occurred in a few days or
even in a few hours.

Besides daily attention to the hair, something else is necessary to
insure its cleanliness and beauty and the perfect health of the skin
of the head from which it springs. For this purpose the head should
be occasionally well washed with soap and water, an abundance of water
being used and great care being subsequently taken to thoroughly rinse
out the whole of the soap with the water in which the head has been
washed. The water may be either tepid or cold, according to the
feelings or habit of the person; and if the head or hair be very
scurfy or dirty, or hard water be used, a few grains of soda (not
potash or pearlash) may be advantageously added to the water. This
will increase its detersive qualities. After the hair has been washed,
which should be done quickly, though thoroughly, it should be freed as
much as possible by pressure with the hands