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BALDNESS 1 (technically alopecia, fro...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 244 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BALDNESS 1 (technically alopecia, from ItXcInrrl, a See also:

fox, foxes often having bald patches on their coats) , the result of loss of See also:hair, particularly on the human See also:scalp. So far as remediable alopecia is concerned, two forms may be distinguished: one the premature baldness so commonly seen in See also:young men, due to alopecia seborrhoica, the other alopecia areata, now regarded as an epidemic disease. Alopecia seborrhoica is that premature baldness so constantly seen, in which the See also:condition steadily advances from the forehead backwards, until only a fringe of hair is See also:left on the See also:head. It is always due to the underlying disease See also:seborrhoea, and though it progresses steadily if neglected, is yet very amenable to treatment. The two drugs of greatest value in this trouble are See also:sulphur and salicylic See also:acid, some eighteen grains of each added to an See also:ounce of See also:vaseline making a See also:good application. This should be rubbed well into the scalp daily for a prolonged See also:period. Where the greasiness is objected to, the following salicylic lotion may be substituted, 1 The See also:adjective " bald " M. E. " balled " is usually explained as literally " See also:round and smooth like a See also:ball," but it may be connected with a See also:stem bal, See also:white or shining. The See also:Greek oaXaKpos certainly suggests some such derivation.though the vaseline application has probably the greater value: Ac. salicyl. 3i—iv; 01. ricini 3 ii—vi; 01. See also:ros. geran. 111 x; Spt. vini ad 3 vi.

The head must be frequently cleansed, and in very mild cases a daily washing with See also:

soap spirit will at times effect a cure unaided. Alopecia areata is characterized by the development of round patches more or less completely denuded of hair. It is most commonly observed on the scalp, though it may occur on any See also:part of the See also:body where hair is naturally See also:present. The patches are rounded, smooth and somewhat depressed owing to the loss of a large proportion of the follicles. At the margin of the patches See also:short broken hairs are usually to be seen. Clinical See also:evidence is steadily accumulating to show that this disease may be transmitted. Organisms are invariably present, in some cases few in number, but in others very abundant and forming a continuous sheath round the hair. They were first described by Dr See also:George Thin, who gave them the name of Bacterium decalvens. The disease must be distinguished from See also:ringworm--especially the bald variety; but though this is at times somewhat difficult clinically, the use of the See also:microscope leaves no See also:room for doubt. It must be remembered that for patients under See also:forty years of See also:age; See also:time alone will generally bring about the desired end, though treatment undoubtedly hastens recovery. After forty every See also:year added to the patient's age makes the See also:prognosis less good. The See also:general See also:hygiene and mode of See also:life of the sufferer must be very carefully attended to, and any weakness suitably treated.

The following lotion should be applied daily to the affected parts, at first cautiously, later more vigorously, and in stronger See also:

solution: Acidi lactici 3 i—3 i; 01. ricini 3 ii; Spt. vini ad 3 iv. The loss of hair following acute fevers must be treated by keeping the hair short, applying stimulating lotions to the scalp, and attending to the general hygiene of the patient. •BALDOVINETTI, ALESSIO (1427-1499), Florentine painter, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:October 1427, and died on the 29th of See also:August 1499. He was a follower of the See also:group of scientific realists and naturalists in See also:art which included See also:Andrea del See also:Castagno, See also:Paolo Uccello and Domenico Veneziano, the See also:influence of the last-named See also:master being particularly See also:manifest in his See also:work. Tradition, probable in itself though not attested by contemporary records, says that he assisted in the decorations of the See also:chapel of S. Egidio in See also:Santa Maria Nuova, carried out during the years 1441–1451 by Domenico Veneziano and in See also:conjunction with Andrea del Castagno. That he was commissioned to See also:complete the See also:series at a later date (1460) is certain. In 1462 Alessio was employed to paint the See also:great See also:fresco of the See also:Annunciation in the See also:cloister of the Annunziata, which still exists in ruined condition. The remains as we see them give evidence of the artist's See also:power both of imitating natural detail with See also:minute fidelity and of spacing his figures in a landscape with a large sense of See also:air and distance; and they amply verify two See also:separate statements of See also:Vasari concerning him: that " he delighted in See also:drawing landscapes from nature exactly as they are, whence we see in his paintings See also:rivers; See also:bridges, rocks, See also:plants, fruits, roads, See also:fields, cities, exercise-grounds, and an infinity of other such things," and that he was an inveterate experimentalist in technical matters. His favourite method in See also:wall-See also:painting was to See also:lay in his compositions in fresco and finish them a secco with a mixture of yolk of See also:egg and liquid See also:varnish. This, says Vasari, was with the view of protecting the painting from See also:damp; but in course of time the parts executed with this vehicle scaled away, so that the great See also:secret he hoped to have discovered turned out a failure. In 1463 he furnished a See also:cartoon of the Nativity, which was executed in tarsia by Giuliano de Maiano in the See also:sacristy of the See also:cathedral and still exists.

From 1466 date the See also:

groups of four Evangelists and four Fathers of the See also:Church in fresco, together with the Annunciation on an oblong See also:panel, which still decorate the Portuguese chapel in the church of S. Miniato, and are given in See also:error by Vasari to Pietro See also:Pollaiuolo. A fresco of the risen See also:Christ between angels inside a See also:Holy See also:Sepulchre in the chapel of the Rucellai See also:family, also still existing, belongs to 1467. In 1471 Alessio undertook important See also:works for the church of Sta Trinita on the See also:commission of Bongianni Gianfigliazzi. First, to paint an See also:altar-piece of the Virgin and See also:Child with six See also:saints; this was finished in 1472 and is now in the See also:Academy at See also:Florence: next, a series of frescoes from the Old Testament which was to be completed according to See also:contract within five years, but actually remained on See also:hand for fully sixteen. In 1497 the finished series, which contained many portraits of leading Florentine citizens, was valued at a thousand See also:gold florins by a See also:committee consisting of Cosimo See also:Rosselli, Benozzo See also:Gozzoli, See also:Perugino and Filippino See also:Lippi; only some defaced fragments of it now remain. Meanwhile Alessio had been much occupied with other technical pursuits and researches apart from painting. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the one craftsman who had rediscovered and fully understood the See also:long disused art of See also:mosaic, and was employed accordingly between 1481 and 1483 to repair the mosaics over the See also:door of the church of S. Miniato, as well as several of those both within and without the See also:baptistery of the cathedral. These are the recorded and datable works of the master; others attributed to him on good and sufficient See also:internal evidences are as follows: —A small panel in the Florence Academy, with the three subjects of the See also:Baptism, the See also:Marriage of See also:Cana and the Transfiguration; this was long attributed to Fra See also:Angelico, but is to all See also:appearance See also:early work of Baldovinetti: an Annunciation in the Uffizi, formerly in the church of S. Giorgio; unmistakably by the master's hand though given by Vasari to Peselino: several Madonnas of peculiarly See also:fine and characteristic quality; one in the collection of Madame See also:Andre at See also:Paris acquired See also:direct from the descendants of the painter, a second, formerly in the Duchatel collection and now in the Louvre, a third in the See also:possession of Mr Berenson at Florence. All these are executed with the determined See also:patience and precision characteristic of Baldovinetti; two, those at the Louvre and in the Andre collection, are distinguished by beautiful landscape backgrounds; and all, but especially the example in the Louvre, add a See also:peculiar and delicate See also:charm to the quality of See also:grave See also:majesty which Alessio's works See also:share with those of See also:Piero della Francesca and others of Domenico Veneziano's following.

They probably belong to the years 1460-1465. In the later of his preserved works, while there is no See also:

abatement of precise and laborious finish, *e find beginning to prevail a certain harshness and commonness of type, and a lack of care for beauty in See also:composition, the technical and scientific searcher seeming more and more to predominate over the artist. See also Vasari, ed. See also:Milanesi, vol. ii.; See also:Crowe-Cavalcaselle, Hist. of Painting in See also:Italy, vol. ii.; Bernhard Berenson, Study and See also:Criticism of See also:Italian Art, and series. (S.

End of Article: BALDNESS 1 (technically alopecia, from ItXcInrrl, a fox, foxes often having bald patches on their coats)

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