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The following theory of the etiology of baldness is new, we believe, and should be added to the already innumerable explanations of that unhappy condition. If it involves some rather extreme wrenches in our knowledge of physiology and anatomy, it does not differ in these respects from many of the other theories, and it cannot be said to lack originality. The explanation is to the following effect:
The hair roots continually grow deeper in their search for nourishment, much as the roots of a tree will grow deeper and deeper to get water. These hair roots gradually grow down into the skull and, by middle life—sometimes earlier, sometimes later—penetrate the skull and finally reach the brain. When that situation occurs, one of two things happen: If the roots find gray matter, the hairs turn gray; if they do not, it falls out.
This concept, at least, can be offered as