“4. The balance is accurately adjusted; it is then arrested, subsequently set in motion, and again allowed to recover its equilibrium; the same process should be repeated several times. A good balance must invariably reassume its original equilibrium.
“A balance of which the end edges afford too much play to the hook resting upon them, so as to allow the latter slightly to alter its position, will show perceptible differences in different trials. This fault, however, is possible only with balances of defective construction.
“A balance to be perfectly useful for the purposes of quantitative analysis must stand the first, second, and last of these tests. A slight inequality of the arms is of no great consequence, since this may be readily and completely remedied by the manner of weighing.” See Weights.
Balance, Hydrostat′ic. See Specific Gravity.
Balance, Tor′sion. A delicate instrument, invented by Coulomb, for measuring the intensities of the electrical and magnetic forces.
BALD′NESS (bawld′-). Syn. Cal′vitas, Calvi′′ties (vĭsh′-e-ēz), L.; Calvitie, Chauveté, Fr.; Kahlheit, Kahlkopf, Kahlköpfigheit, Ger. Primarily, absence or loss of any natural covering; appr., destitution or loss of hair, more especially of that of the top and fore-part of the head. In botany, absence of beard or awn.
Grey hair and baldness dependent on old age are natural consequences of man’s infirmity, and must be regarded as evidence of failing vigour, rather than in the light of a disease. Premature loss of hair may be induced by various causes. It is common after severe fevers, and is frequently caused by external pressure, friction, or violence, and by such other local actions and conditions which, when long continued, interrupt the normal functions of the skin. Persons with a consumptive, scorbutic, scrofulous, or syphilitic taint, or of a general bad habit of body, frequently lose their hair early. In these cases it probably arises from debility or paralysis of the cutaneous vessels, and the consequent insufficient nutrition of the hair-bulbs. When it occurs in persons under the middle age, and apparently enjoying good health, it may be often traced to the pernicious practice of constantly wearing a hard non-ventilating hat, or to disordered stomach, habitual smoking or hard drinking, irregular habits, or late hours. Excessive anxiety or grief, and intense study and thoughtfulness, also tend to promote the early decay of the hair. The natural baldness of the aged, and frequently the premature baldness of earlier years, arises from the gradual attenuation of the scalp, which ultimately becomes too thin to afford room for the performance of the functions of the hair-producing organs, and too scantily supplied with blood for their due nutrition and support.[104]
[104] In such cases it will be found that, owing to this attenuation, the scalp covers a larger portion of the skull than previously; and that its sides have somewhat receded from the top of the head, so that the roots of the remaining hair descend lower towards the forehead, temples, and back of the neck, than when the parts were in vigorous health. This may be perceived by applying the open hand to the part, and then gently closing the fingers, when the scalp may be drawn into its original position, and will then appear loose and wrinkled over the occiput, &c.; and this in a manner very different to what occurs when the top of the head is covered, or well-covered, with hair.
Treatm. The baldness of senility and that arising from the permanent injury or destruction of the hair-bulbs, admit of no cure, notwithstanding the daily assurances of advertising impostors to the contrary. In other cases, when a disposition to baldness exists, shown by the hair falling off in large quantities, or ceasing to grow with its usual vigour and rapidity, the frequent but gentle use of the hair-brush, and of any bland stimulating oil, pomade, or wash, if adopted in time, will generally prove sufficient to arrest the progress of decay, and, very frequently, to restore the hair to its pristine condition. The head may be advantageously washed in cold water, at least once a day; or what is better, a shower bath may be taken on rising in the morning. Should this plan not succeed, the head, or the upper part of it, may be shaved, and a wig, or a scalp, adopted for a time. The effect of keeping the hair closely cropped or shaved is to make it grow thicker, stiffer, and stronger, and this often when all other means fail.
Among more active and less common remedies for baldness may be mentioned—mild streaming electricity, stimulant fomentations, cantharidised, ioduretted, phosphoretted, &c., oils and lotions, a night-cap that, without pressing injuriously on the head, lifts, as it were, the scalp into its natural position, &c., all of which are noticed elsewhere.