other proof that man
is descended from an animal which was born hairy, and remained so during
life. This covering is first developed during the fifth month, on the
eyebrows and face, and especially around the mouth, where it is much
longer than that on the head. Three or four cases have been recorded of
persons born with their whole bodies and faces thickly covered with fine
long hairs. Prof. Alex. Brandt compared the hair from the face of a man
thus characterized, aged thirty-five, with the lanugo of a foetus, and
finds it quite similar in texture. Eschricht[33] has devoted great
attention to this rudimentary covering, and has thrown much light on the
subject. He showed that the female as well as the male foetus
possessed this hairy covering, showing that both are descended from
progenitors, both sexes of whom were hairy. Eschricht also showed, as
stated above, that the hair on the face of the fifth month foetus is
longer on the face than on the head, which indicates that our semi-human
progenitors were not furnished with long tresses, which must therefore
have been a late acquisition. The question naturally arises, is there
any explanation for the loss of hair covering?

[Illustration: FIG. I.--The Hairy-Faced Burmese Family. (From Scientific
American, Feb. 20, 1875.)]

Darwin is of the opinion that the absence of hair on the body is, to a
certain extent, a secondary sexual character; for, in all parts of the
world, women are less hairy than men. He says: "Therefore we may
reasonably suspect that this character has been gained through sexual
selection." As the body in woman is less hairy than in man, and as this
character is common to all races, we may conclude that it was our female
semi-human ancestors who were first divested of hair.

Professor Grant Allen[34] has given much study to the subject of the
loss of hair in the human being; and his investigations are worthy of
careful consideration. He shows conclusively that those parts of an
animal which are in constant contact with other objects are specially
liable to lose their hair. This is noticeable on the under surface of
the body of all animals which habitually lie on the stomach. The soles
of the feet of all mammals where they touch the ground are quite
hairless; the palms of the hands in the quadrumana present the same
appearance. The knees of those species which frequently kneel, such as
camels and other ruminants, are apt to become bare and hard-skinn