[Footnote 1:  Abstract of a paper read before the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, at Norristown, May 10, 1883.—­N.Y.  Med.  Jour.]

By JOHN V. SHOEMAKER, A.M., M.D., Physician to the Philadelphia Hospital for Skin Diseases.

The object of this paper is to briefly describe the hair and its important functions, and to suggest the proper manner of preserving it in a healthy state.

I know full well that much has been written upon this useful part of the human economy, but the constant increase of bald heads and beardless faces, notwithstanding all our modern advancement in the application of remedies to the cure of disease, prompts me to point out to you the many ways of retaining, without medication, the hair, which is a defense, ornamentation, and adornment to the human body.

[Dr. Shoemaker here gave an interesting history of the growth and development of the hair and its uses, which we are compelled to omit.  Then, proceeding, he said:] Now, the hair, which fulfills such an important function in the adornment and health of the body, requires both constitutional and local care to keep it in its normal, healthy state.  When I say constitutional care, I mean that the various organs of the body that assist in nourishing and sustaining the hair-forming apparatus should, by judicious diet, exercise, and attention to the nervous system, be kept healthy and sound, in order that they in turn may assist in preserving the hairs in a vigorous condition.

In the first place, that essential material, food, which is necessary to supply the waste and repair of all animal life, should be selected, given, or used according to good judgment and experience.

Thus, mothers should feed their infants at regular intervals according to their age, and not permit them to constantly pull at the breast or the bottle until the little stomach becomes gorged with food, and some alimentary disorder supervenes, often setting up a rash and interfering with the growth and development of the hair.  It is likewise important, in case the baby must be artificially fed, to select good nutritious food as near as possible like the mother’s—­cow’s milk, properly prepared, being the only recognized substitute.  Care and discretion should likewise be taken by parents and nurses, after the infant has developed into childhood, to give simple, substantial, and varied food at regular periods of the day, and not in such quantities as to overload the stomach.  Children need active nutrition to develop them into robust and healthy men and women; and it is from neglect of these important laws of health, and in allowing improper food, that very often bring their results in scald head, ring-worm, and scrofula, that leave their stamp in the poor development of the hair.  With the advent of youth and the advance of years, food should be selected and partaken of according to the judgment and experience of its acceptable and wholesome action on the consumer.