It is the overtaxing of the physical powers, excessive brain
work, the exacting demands made by parents and teachers upon
children's mental faculties, the loss of sleep, incessant cares,
anxiety, grief, excitement, the sudden depression and exaltation of
spirits, irregular and hastily bolted meals, the lack of rest and
recreation, the abuse of tobacco, spirits, tea, coffee, and drugs of
all forms, that are fruitful sources of this defective action of the
nerves of nutrition, and consequent general thinning and loss of hair.
The hair, particularly of the head, should also receive marked local
attention. In reference to the use of coverings for it, I know of no
better rules than those which I laid down in my chapter on clothing in
"Household Practice of Medicine" (vol. i., p. 218, William Wood & Co.,
New York), in which I state that the head is the only part of the body
so protected by nature as to need no artificial covering.
The stiff hats so extensively worn by men produce more or less injury.
Premature baldness most frequently first attacks that part of the head
where pressure is made by the hat. It is, indeed, a pity that custom
has so rigidly decreed that men and women must not appear out of doors
with heads uncovered. It would be far better for the hair if to be
bare-headed were the rule, and to wear a hat the exception.
Since we can not change our social regulations in this respect, we
should endeavor to render them as harmless as possible.
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