Note 2 — Chapter I · SOMEWHAT FABULOUS.

A correspondent of the Medical Times having asked for authentic instances of the hair becoming grey within the space of one night, Mr. D. F. Parry, Staff-Surgeon at Aldershott, transmitted the following account, of which he made memorandum shortly after its occurrence. “On February 19, 1858, the column under General Franks, in the south of Oude, was engaged with a rebel force at the village of Chamda, and several prisoners were taken. One of them, a sepoy of the Bengal army, was brought before the authorities for examination, and I, being present, had an opportunity of watching from the commencement the fact I am about to record. Divested of his uniform, and stripped completely naked, he was surrounded by the soldiers, and then first apparently became alive to the danger of his position; he trembled violently, intense horror and despair were depicted in his countenance, and although he answered all the questions addressed to him, he seemed almost stupified with fear; while actually under observation, within the space of half-an-hour, his hair became grey on every portion of his head, it having been, when first seen by me, the glossy jet black of the Bengalee, aged about twenty-four. The attention of the bystanders was first attracted by the serjeant, whose prisoner he was, exclaiming, ‘He is turning grey;’ and I, with several other persons, watched its progress. Gradually, but decidedly, the change went on, and a uniform greyish colour was completed within the period above named.”