CHAP. 47.—THE HAIR.
Of all animals man has the longest hair upon the head; which is the case more especially with those nations where the men and women in common leave the hair to grow, and do not cut it. Indeed, it is from this fact, that the inhabitants of the Alps have obtained from us the name of “Capillati,”181 as also those of Gallia, “Comata.”182 There is, however, a great difference in this respect according to the various countries. In the island of Myconus,183 the people are born without hair, just as at Caunus the inhabitants are afflicted with the spleen from their birth.184 There are some animals, also, that are naturally bald, such as the ostrich, for instance, and the aquatic raven, which last has thence derived its Greek185 name. It is but rarely that the hair falls off in women, and in eunuchs such is never known to be the case; nor yet does any person lose it before having known sexual intercourse.186 The hair does not fall off below the brain, nor yet beneath the crown of the head, or around the ears and the temples. Man is the only animal that becomes bald, with the exception, of course, of such animals as are naturally so. Man and the horse are the only creatures whose hair turns grey; but with man this is always the case, first in the fore-part of the head, and then in the hinder part.