Pubic hair

“ The pubic hair of women is usually shorter than that of men, but thick, and the individual hairs stronger and larger in diameter than those of men, as Pfaff first showed; dark hair is usually stronger than light. ”

“ This masculine form of the pubic hair is by no means common in women; according to Lombroso it is met with more frequently in Italian women than in those belonging to other European nations. In most women, the thick hairy covering of the mons Veneris is sharply limited above by the curved line that indicates the upper margin of the eminence, whereas in men a strip of hair usually passes up from the mons pubis to the umbilicus. ”

“ Abnormal growth of pubic hair is by no means confined to conte and fable. John, says Havelock Ellis in his Studies, delivered a woman whose pubic hair was longer than that of her head, reaching below her knees. Paulini also knew a woman "whose pubic hair nearly reached her knees and was sold to make wigs. Bartholin mentions a soldier's wife who plaited her pubic hair behind her back." (Erotic Symbolism) . We have no actual evidence that Helène's growth was of these abnormal dimensions, but it was obviously out of the ordinary to provoke comment from a man of Casanova's experience. ”

“ In men the pubic hair normally ascends anteriorly in a faint line up to the navel, with tendency to form a triangle with the apex above, and posteriorly extends backwards to the anus. In women these anterior and posterior extensions are comparatively rare, or at all events are only represented by a few stray hairs. Rothe found this variation in 4 per cent. of North German women, though a triangle of hair was only found in 2 per cent.; Lombroso found it in 5 per cent, of Italian women ”

“ It is at puberty that all the hair on the body, except that on the head, begins to develop; indeed, the very word "puberty" has reference to this growth as the most obvious sign of the whole process. When castration takes place at an early age all this development of pubescent hair is arrested. When the primary sexual organs are undeveloped the sexual hair is also undeveloped, as in a case, recorded by Plant, [166] of a girl with rudimentary uterus and ovaries who had little or no axillary and pubic hair, although the hair of the head was long and strong. ”

“ Sex.—When mutilation, putrefaction, or charring has taken place, by which the genitalia have been demolished, it may be difficult to determine the sex. Evidence will be afforded by the distribution of the pubic hair, which in the male reaches as high as the umbilicus, but is horizontal with few exceptions in the female. Males have more hair on the body generally. ”

“ Rothe, in his investigation of the pubic hair of 1000 Berlin women, found that no two women were really alike in this respect, but there was a tendency to two main types of arrangement, with minor subdivisions, according as the hair tended to grow chiefly in the middle line extending laterally from that line, or to grow equally over the whole extent of the pubic region ”

“ A well-grown and abundant supply of fine pubic hair is a possession highly prized by women, of which they are justly proud, though few of them would acknowledge the fact, even to themselves. None the less it is a fact.
The female sex organs, speaking generally also, are as follows: The vulva, or outward portion of the parts; the vaginal passage; the uterus, or womb, and the ovaries. All but the first named lie within the body of the woman. The vulva is made up of several parts which will be named and described later. The vaginal passage is a tube, or canal leading from the vulva to the womb. ”

“ In the virgin this hair is smoother and less curly than in the later course of the sexual life. In certain tribes of negroes it is the custom for the young unmarried girls to shave off the pubic hair, which is not allowed to grow freely until after marriage. In some of the tribes of South Sea Islanders it is customary at puberty to tattoo the external genitals and the surrounding skin.
Fig. 8.—Internal genital organs of a new-born, powerfully developed female infant. (From Toldt: Atlas of Human Anatomy.—Rebman Company, New York.) ”

“ If the period of the puberal development be understood to correspond to the development and ripening of the sexual life, we see that this development begins much earlier than is commonly assumed in books on the subject. Writers have been too ready to identify with this developmental period the appearance of certain external manifestations, more especially the growth of the pubic hair in both sexes, the development of the breasts in the female, and the breaking of the voice in the male ”

“ Even in cases in which the loss of substance of the breasts is apparently small, the glandular tissue of the organs has really disappeared, and has been replaced by fat. In advanced age, the breasts become quite small, wrinkled, flaccid, and dependent, and sometimes atrophied to become mere cutaneous folds. The nipples project more prominently, they are darker in colour, and their surface is wrinkled. In the genital organs, the fat disappears from the mons veneris, which becomes flattened, whilst the pubic hair ceases to be curly, and much or all of it is ultimately shed. ”

“ The beauty of woman, a prominent secondary sexual character, makes its first appearance at puberty, when the girl’s form, hitherto undifferentiated in its external bodily configuration, begins to assume a soft and rounded appearance, when the features become regular, the breasts enlarge, and the pubic hair begins to grow—when, in short, to the primary sexual characters already existing, the secondary sexual characters are superadded. ”

“ Every child comes into the world with a coat of rudimentary hair which is shed at once. Aside from the growth of hair on the head, including the brows and the lashes, the skin is quite free from any noticeable growth of hair for months or even years. Beginning at the age of [29] puberty, however, the growth of hair is very much accelerated over the whole pilous surface of the body, particularly upon the face, in the axilla and over the pubic region. It is a generally recognized law of biology, that, at the period of sexual development, the hairy mammalian character becomes accentuated. ”

“ Although none of the pictures directly exposed the model's genitals, some showed his pubic hair and others suggested what appeared to be a semi-erect penis * * *; others showed male models reclining with their legs (and sometimes their arms as well) spread wide apart * * *. ”

“ As appendages of the skin are found the hairs, the nails and the sebaceous and sweat glands.
Hair.—The hairs are found in man on the scalp, eyelids, eyebrows, armpits, pubic region, vestibule of the nose, external auditory meatus, face, ventral surface of the trunk and dorsal surfaces of the leg, forearm and hand; indeed the only places which are quite free from them are the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and the glans penis. In some places, such as the armpits, pubic region and the face of the male they grow to a considerable length at and after puberty. ”

“ If the child is accustomed to the sight of nudity in adults of his own sex, he will see nothing peculiar in his own sexual organs and pubic hairs when these develop. On the other hand, children brought up with strict prudery and in complete ignorance of sexual matters, often become greatly excited when their pubic hairs develop; they feel ashamed and at the same time erotic. When they are not prepared, girls become still more excited at the first appearance of menstruation, and boys at their first seminal emission. ”

“ Some recommend shaving the hair off the pubis, the locality in which the vermin are most usually engendered, and applying blue ointment or the black wash. Such a practice is seldom ineffectual, but the irritation attendant upon the reproduction of hair is absolutely intolerable. The hair need not be removed, as the above remedies will be all-sufficient without it. ”

“ In the female sex this association between the face, throat, nose, and pubis does not exist; whence no hair grows on their chins at the time of puberty, nor does their voices change, or their necks thicken. This happens probably from there being in them a more exquisite sensitive sympathy between the pubis and the breasts. Hence their breasts swell at the time of puberty, and secrete milk at the time of parturition. ”

“ The ova may be seen attached to the hair-shafts.
It infests adults chiefly, being in many instances probably contracted through sexual intercourse.
Is the pediculus pubis found upon any other part of the body?
Yes. Although its favorite habitat is the region of the pubes, it [Pg 276] may, in exceptional instances, also infest the axillæ, the sternal region of the male, the beard, eyebrows, and even the eyelashes.
State the diagnostic characters of pediculosis pubis. ”

“ Some men never have hair on the pubes from their birth, nor seed, on account of the destruction of the parts appropriated to the semen. There are some women also who never have hair on the pubes. The male and female also change their habits of sickness and of health, and the proportions of their body, whether slight or stout, or of a good habit. Some thin boys after they attain puberty become stout and healthy, in others the contrary takes place. ”

“ There are large callous eminences on the skin, and the veins appear enlarged, owing to a thickening of the vessels and not to a plethora of blood. The hairs of the head, pubes, and other parts of the body, drop off. The face in particular is affected with callous tubercles or warts, and it is not uncommon for the tongue, and most parts of the body, to be also covered with them. The eyebrows are thickened, stripped of their hair, and hang down like those of the lion. ”

“ Symptoms.—About eight days after the exposure a little redness and then a pimple, which soon becomes an open sore, makes its appearance, on or about the end of the penis in males or on the external or inner parts of the uterus of females. Pimples and sores soon multiply, and after a time little hard lumps appear in the groin, which soon develop into a blue tumor called bubo. Copper colored spots may appear in the face, hair fall out, etc. Canker and ulcerations in the mouth and various parts of the body soon develop. ”

“ The penis can then be shelled out, the prepuce being first cut through around the corona glandis. If lateral flaps can be formed of sound skin they are then dissected up. The perineal and pubic incisions are now deepened and, assistants holding the testes and penis well out of the way, the neck of the tumour is cut through close to the perineum and pubes. Gaping vessels are all carefully ligatured, redundant tunica vaginalis—if hydroceles be present—being excised. ”

“ There being four varieties of it, according to Leonides; three of them occur in men and one in women. In men, sometimes about the perineum and sometimes about the middle of the scrotum, there is the appearance of a female pudendum with hair; and in addition to these there is a third variety, in which the discharge of urine takes place at the scrotum as from a female pudendum. In women there is often found above the pudendum and in the situation of the pubes the appearance of a man’s privy parts, there being three bodies projecting there, one like a penis, and two like testicles. ”

“ Thus, in 100 women, Schultze found five in whom the hairy covering extended up to the navel. Sometimes other variations occur, for instance, the hair may extend laterally into the groin, occasionally as far as the anterior superior spine of the ilium, and across the upper part of the front of the thigh, not infrequently in association with a thick growth of hair along the sides of the perineum as far as the anus. Of women with the hair growing in this fashion, not a few appeared to Bergh to have unusually strong sexual passion. ”

“ An erection of the penis occurs in the hydrophobia, and is a troublesome symptom, as observed by Cœlius Aurelianus, Fothergill, and Vaughn, and would seem to be produced by an unexplained sympathy between the sensations about the fauces and the penis. In men the hair grows about both these parts, the voice changes, and the neck thickens at puberty. In the mumps, when the swellings about the throat subsides, the testicles are liable to swell. Venereal infection received by the penis is very liable to affect the throat with ulcers. ”

“ Coarse hairs may require as much as fourteen milliampères, but it is advisable to use a moderate amount of current and to leave the needle a little longer in the follicle to avoid scarring of the skin.
The papilla having presumably been destroyed, the patient loosens her grip on the sponge and the needle is withdrawn.
The operator now takes up an epilating forceps, such as shown in Fig. 517, and removes the hair. If the hair does not come out of the follicle readily it shows that it has not been destroyed, and the same treatment, just described, must be repeated, but for a shorter duration. ”

“ In hairy individuals the malady is often persistent, due to the fact that ova have become attached to the hair and a new progeny soon hatched out. Continued treatment over a few weeks will usually suffice to rid the patient of their presence.
Pediculosis Pubis.
Describe the symptoms of pediculosis pubis.
Pediculosis pubis is a condition due to the presence of the pediculus pubis, or crab-louse. It is characterized by more or less itching about the genitalia, together with papules, excoriations, and other inflammatory lesions. The amount of irritation varies ”

“ Owing to the inclination of the pelvis, the base of the sacrum is nearly 4 in higher than the upper border of the pubic symphysis. The female pelvis is distinguished from the male by certain sexual characters. The bones are more slender, the ridges and processes for muscular attachment more feeble, the breadth and capacity greater, the depth less, giving the greater breadth to the hips of a woman ; the inlet more nearly circular, the pubic arch wider, the distance between the tuberosities greater, and the aceta- bulum smaller in the female than in the male. ”