Virgil

says that the hair of the head was sacred to the infernal gods. Greeks of both sexes used to cut off their hair a few days before marriage, and wore the hair of those they loved. Christian Greeks cut three locks from the babe’s head, devoting them to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by placing them in the font at baptism. Hair was also torn in sign of mourning by many races. The monk or the priest is marked by his tonsure; and St Augustine in England disapproved of the shape of the Culdee tonsure, which was probably like that of the Greek, and not of the Roman, Church. St Gregory of Tours said that a king in France would only cut his son’s hair if he intended to exclude him from the succe ion: for the early Frankish kings were long haired. The Chinese suffered martyrdom rather than cut their hair, when ordered by the Manchu conquerors to adopt the Tartar pigtail. The Kelts equally objected to shave like Christian Normans, and ‘could only be induced to sacrifice their beards as late as 1100 ac. In the Middle Ages a godfather only, or an honoured friend, was allowed to cut the child’s first hair, “after which it must forever be beholden to him.” The Emperor Const an tine, father of Heracleus, sent his son’s hair to the Pope. Among the Malagasy the first cutting of hair is an important festive rite. They, and the Siamese, do not allow children to be educated till the hair is cut (see Academy, 24th November 1877; Journal Anthrop. Instit., August, November 1881). Many Indian tribes a ociate the first cutting of the child’s hair with the naming rite. The Chinese consider it the most sacred rite of infancy, occurring when the infant is three months old, Nero consecrated his youthful beard to Jupiter Capitol in us (according to Suet on i us), depositing it in the Capitol in a gold box set with gems. In the 16th century gentlemen wore their beards in gold leaf as a sign of mourning. At the funeral of Patroclus (according to Homer), Achilles cut off his golden locks, which his father had dedicated to the river god, and threw them into the stream. Lucian says that the hair of youths and maidens was offered to the Dea Syria. The young men let it grow till reaching manhood, and placed it in the temple in a gold or silver vase, inscribed with the worshiper's name, as, says Lucian, “I myself did when young.” In Polynesia the Sandwich Islanders—though profe ing Christianity—still cut off their hair, to offer it to Pelé and other fire gods (Mi Gordon Cumming, Fire — Fountains, i, pp. 7, 8). Just so Queen Berenice (220 B.c.) sacrificed her hair to Venus, praying for victory for her husband. The tre es are said to have been taken by Zeus, and formed the constellation of “Berenice’s Lock.” At the Liberal i a, in Rome, a proce ion pa ed through the streets at the vernal equinox, ascending by the Forum to the Capitol with songs; and the young then offered their hair in connection with the a umption of the Toga Virilis (see Smith’s Dict. of Antiq., articles “ Impubes” and “ Toga”). The growth of hair was the sign of maturity. The Arabs of Edom still offer to ancient deities the hair of babes, with blood of circumcision (see Rev. R. 210