Dr. Browne further remarks that the bristling of the hair which is so
common in the insane, is not always associated with terror. It is
perhaps most frequently seen in chronic maniacs, who rave incoherently
and have destructive impulses; but it is during their paroxysms of
violence that the bristling is most observable. The fact of the hair
becoming erect under the influence both of rage and fear agrees
perfectly with what we have seen in the lower animals. Dr. Browne
adduces several cases in evidence. Thus with a man now in the Asylum,
before the recurrence of each maniacal paroxysm, the hair rises up
from his forehead like the mane of a Shetland pony. He has sent me
photographs of two women, taken in the intervals between their
paroxysms, and he adds with respect to one of these women, that the
state of her hair is a sure and convenient criterion of her mental
condition. I have had one of these photographs copied, and the
engraving gives, if viewed from a little distance, a faithful
representation of the original, with the exception that the hair
appears rather too coarse and too much curled. The extraordinary
condition of the hair in the insane is due, not only to its erection,
but to its dryness and harshness, consequent on the subcutaneous glands
failing to act. Dr. Bucknill has said[1220] that a lunatic is a
lunatic to his finger s ends; he might have added, and often to the
extremity of each particular hair.
Dr. Browne mentions as an empirical confirmation of the relation which
exists in the insane between the state of their hair and minds, that
the wife of a medical man, who has charge of a lady suffering from
acute melancholia, with a strong fear of death, for herself, her
husband and children, reported verbally to him the day before receiving
my letter as follows, I think Mrs. will soon improve, for her hair
is getting smooth; and I always notice that our patients get better
whenever their hair ceases to be rough and unmanageable.
Dr. Browne attributes the persistently rough condition of the hair in
many insane patients, in part to their minds being always somewhat
disturbed, and in part to the effects of habit, that is, to the hair
being frequently and strongly erected during their many recurrent
paroxysms. In patients in whom the bristling of the hair is extreme,
the disease is generally permanent and mortal; but in others, in whom
the bristling is moderate, as soon as they recover their health of mind
the hair recovers its smoothness.
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