matura_). The condition is usually permanent. The loss of
pigment takes place, as a rule, slowly, but several apparently authentic
cases have been reported in which the change occurred in the course of a
night or in a few days.

#What is the etiology of canities?#

The causes are obscure. Heredity is usually an influential factor, and
conditions which impair the general nutrition have at times an
etiological bearing. Intense anxiety, fright, and other profound nervous
shock are looked upon as causative in sudden graying of the hair.

#Give the treatment.#

Canities is without remedy. Dyeing, although not to be advised, is often
practised, and the condition thus masked.

#Alopecia.#
(_Synonym:_ Baldness.)

#What do you understand by alopecia?#

By alopecia is meant loss of hair, either partial or complete.

#Name the several varieties of alopecia.#

The so-called varieties are based mainly upon the etiology, and are
named congenital alopecia, premature alopecia and senile alopecia.

#Describe congenital alopecia.#

Congenital alopecia is a rare condition, in which the hair-loss is
usually noted to be patchy, or the general hair-growth may simply be
scanty. In rare instances the hair has been entirely wanting; in such
cases there is usually defective development of other structures, such
as the teeth.

#Describe premature alopecia.#

Loss of hair occurring in early and middle adult life is not uncommon,
and may consist of a simple thinning or of more or less complete
baldness of the whole or greater part of the scalp. It usually develops
slowly, some months or several years passing before the condition is
well established. It is often idiopathic, and without apparent cause
further than probably a hereditary predisposition. It may also be
symptomatic, as, for example, the loss of hair, usually rapid
(_defluvium capillorum_), following systemic diseases, such as the
various fevers, and syphilis; or as a result of a long-continued
seborrh[oe]a or seborrh[oe]ic eczema (_alopecia furfuracea_).

#Describe senile alopecia.#

This is the baldness so frequently seen developing with advancing years,
and may consist merely of a general thinning, or, more commonly a
general thinning with a more or less complete baldness of the temporal
and anterior portion or of the vertex of the scalp.

#What is the prognosis in the various varieties of alopecia?