ongly scented with the oil of
rosemary, to which a few drops of oil of thyme or origanum may be
added, appear to be the most useful.

To cause the hair to retain the position given to it in dressing it,
various methods and cosmetics are commonly employed. When the
arrangement is a natural one and the hair healthy and tractable, the
free use of the hairbrush will usually be sufficient for the purpose.
When this is insufficient, the application of a few drops of oil, or,
better still, moistening the hair with a little simple water, will
effect the object satisfactorily. In very elaborate and unnatural
styles of dressing the hair, and to cause it to remain in curl or to
retain its position during dancing, or violent exercise, bandoline and
cosmetique or hard pomatum are the articles commonly employed in
fashionable life. Mild ale or porter has a similar effect, and is
often substituted for the preceding expensive cosmetics. The frequent
use of any of these articles is objectionable, as they clog up the
pores of the skin and shield both it and the hair from the genial
action of the atmosphere, which is essential to their healthy vigor.
They should, hence, be subsequently removed by carefully washing the
head with a little soap and tepid water. Their use may be tolerated in
dressing for the ballroom, but on no other occasion. Simple water
skillfully employed, as noticed elsewhere, is the best and safest
mixture, and under ordinary circumstances is amply sufficient for the
purpose.

The practice of artificially changing the color of the hair, and
particularly of dyeing it, has descended to us from remote antiquity,
and though not so common in Western Europe as formerly, is still far
from infrequent at the present day. This might be inferred from the
multitude of nostrums for the purpose continually advertised in the
newspapers, and from the number of persons who announce themselves as
practicing the art, even though the keen and experienced eye did not
frequently detect instances of it, as it now does, in the hair and
beards of those we see around us. The recent rage after light auburn
or reddish hair in fashionable life has, unfortunately, greatly
multiplied these instances. The consideration of the subject, however,
in its ethical relations does not come within the province of the
present work, and I shall confine myself to pointing out how the color
of the hair may be changed in the safest and most satisfactory
manner.