V. ANIMALCULES Are destitute of tentacula or feelers, and are generally so minute as to be invisible to the naked eye. They are chiefly found in different infusions of animal and vegetable substances.
_The only production of the human body which appears to be useful in a commercial view, is the_ hair.
Human hair, for the purpose of being made into wigs, and ornamental head-dresses, is imported into this country from the Continent, and chiefly from Germany. We also import hair from China, but the latter is generally of very dark colour. On the Continent this article is almost wholly collected by pedlars, who travel through the different countries, and carry trinkets and other articles for sale, and to exchange for it.
When, some years ago, long hair was much more fashionable than it is at present, great numbers of young women in Germany suffered their hair to grow, and had it cut, from time to time, as a source of emolument. The notion that long hair is frequently cut from the heads of persons after they are dead is totally unfounded, since the uncertainty of such supply would alone render it impracticable. The hair that is used for men's wigs is almost wholly children's hair, no other being in general considered sufficiently fine for this purpose.
The value of hair is from five to twelve shillings per ounce, according to the quality, length, or colour. Before it can be used it is well rubbed with dry sand, and afterwards boiled, to clean it. Such as is intended for wigs, if it do not curl naturally, is twisted round small earthenware cylinders, put into a vessel with sand, and baked in an oven, until it acquire this property. The most scarce and valuable kind of hair is that of flaxen colour.
So great was formerly the demand for long hair, and so extravagant the price for which it was frequently sold, that a mode was invented of stretching it to nearly double its original length. This was effected by fastening the ends of the hair to the opposite sides of a vessel, placing a heavy weight across the middle, and applying heat underneath. As the heat softened the hair, the weight pressed it down, and extended it. But this project was found not to answer, as the hair lost all its quality, and could never be used but when mixed with other hair, and even then the fraud was discoverable by the stretched hair gradually shrinking nearly to its original length.