Page:Archives of dermatology, vol 6.djvu/258

 246 A. G. SMYTHE;

THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF THE SKIN AND HAIR- CHANGING THEIR COLOR WITHOUT ANY KNOWN CAUSE.

BY A. G. SMYTHE, M.D., BALDWYN, MISS.

THERE is a quality of the skin and hair that I have failed to see any account of in any work on anatomy or pathology, or in any periodical literature, which is the apology for offering this article. It is and will be of no diagnostic or patliological value, and is only important in a medico-legal point, where personal identity would be of great importance, that the human skin and hair are capable of making a healthy change from fair to dark and from dark to fair after mature agej also that the hair will change from fair to dark in the same subject. But the writer will not say that the hair will change from dark to fair, except in the manner generally caused by age. In proof of the foregoing, three cases which have come under my observation will be given.

There is but little doubt that it has occurred often, but has escaped the notice of medical men, and when observed has been supposed to have been caused by accident, exposure, disease, or age. Many have failed to meet with cases, or may not have known them suffi- ciently long to prove it, provided their attention had been called to it.

Case I. — A. W. D., aged 47 years, known to me thirty-five years. Parentage, — father, very dark (said to have Indian blood), with heavy black and straight hair; mother, Irish descent, very fair, with light-colored hair. Up to the age of 35 years this subject possessed a fair skin, with light hair and dark eyes. About this time his hair began to be gray; the hair which did not change to silver-white be- came very dark or nearly jet-black, his skin at the same time assum- ing a dark and bronzed hue. Health as good as at any time during his life. Up to the age of 28 years he was a hard out-door laborer, and a soldier through the late war, since which time he has been a saloon-keeper or merchant. At the present time he is in robust health; skin very dark, but has a healthy glow; hairs nearly all silvery-white, with a {t^^ that are black.

Case II. — Aged 56 years; a life-long country dentist. Parentage, — father, dark skin, black and shining hair; mother, unknown to the writer. Up to the age of 45 years this subject had a fair skin (not blonde or ruddy), eyes light blue, with very light hair, at which time the latter began to change to gray, and, as in Case I., the hair which did not change to silvery-white became very dark or indeed black. The skin at or about the same time assumed a very dark but more healthy hue than formerly. Health and habits as good or better than before; is now actively engaged in his (itinerant dentist) profession. He has been for short periods, after long in- tervals, a hard drinker.