Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-12-14
Grneral 5Htsrellauu.
sEASONABLE HINTS ABOUT PER-
SONAL COMFORT.

SONAL COMFORT
A thin shawl may be made warm by fold
ing newspaper inside Of IT, The paper is
impcrvious TO the wind and cold air from out
side and prevents the rapid escape Of the
warm air from beneath it. Every one knows
that the heat Of the body is carried off much
more rapidly in a high wind than in calm.
The wind blows away the heat evolved from
the body but in perfectly still air this heat
remains, and constitutes an atmospheric en-
yelope so nearly Of the same temperature
with the body itself that the latter is not so
quickly robbed Of its natural heat
There are some very interesting facts about
the body in its power to make and contain
heat, which are familiar to all, when told, but
which are seldom thought of in daily expert
ence. For example, the body will hold
great deal more heat than it gets from its own
furnaces. The stomach is a furnace, and our
food is the fuel 1t keeps up uniform tenn
perature in the blood equal to about 9S de-
grees of Fahrenheits thermometer. If the
stomach could consume food fast enough to
maintain that heat, the body could not be froz-
en- by any extreme of cold. But in proportion
to the severity of cold to which the body is
exposed is the rapidity with which is loses
neat NDult huDe lduNes ldhtn into tue hlOlD-
ach make hot blaze much sooner than 9TH
ers, as brandy. To put brandy in the stom-
ach is like putting pitch under a steam boiler.
1t soon burns out, and the greater heat in
iures the furnace
We say that the body will hold more heat
than it gets from its own furnaces Heat is
measured by degrees. On going out from
warm room, the body will Immediately begin
to lose its heat. and it must part with a GER
tain number of degrees before it can begin to
feel cold. The direction has sometimes been
gwen uvu-V Nus s,.4 .------.-:s 49,
ing to set out on cold journey" But ex-
perience says-do hug it. Get in as many
degrees of heat as you can carry, if il is 500.
Then wrap yourself up well, and you can eco
nomise these 500 degrees through long
ride But if you had taken only 100 degrees
at the start, they would have been exhausted
midway Of the journey, and then you would
have begun to feel cold. Nevertheless, it is
an unhealthy habit to accustom ones self on
ordinary occasions to more heat than is actu-
ally needed, This is a very common fault
and bears on the pocket as well as on the
health. One may easily get the habit Of re-
quiring two or three more blankets on a bed
than are necessary. Some families will burn
comfort.
The extremities of the body get cold first,
often to painful degree, while the trunk Is
warm. But so long as the trunk keeps warm,
in person of common vigorous health there
is little fear of catching cold" by aching toes
or fingers. In rail car riding, it is much
safer for the health to let the toes ache, than
to allow the lungs to feed on the foul air a
round the stove.
When you set out on winter journey, if
you are liable to suffer from cold toes, which
many people do in spite of "Iubbers," fold
a piece of newspaper over your stocking,
which you can readily do, if your boots or
shoes are not irrationally tight. This is bet
ter than "rubbers,' which are, in fact, very
cold comforters in extreme, while they make
the feet sweat in moderate weather. The
main use of India rubber oyershoes is to keep
out water, and for that they are second only
to a stout waterproof, f'strate calf skin boot
There is not a more villainously unwholesome
article of wear made than the high topped
rubber boot 1t makes the foot tender, es-
pecially in children. gives an ugly gait, and
when left off in any weather, the wearer is
liable to "catch cold Saint Crispin is the
best friend of the human foot, when bis lea;h
sr and stitches are honest.
Although the body can take in greater
number of degrees of heat than it gets from
It's own furnace, the stomach, yet its capacity
is limited in this respect. For example when
he hand is warm, you cannot hold it in the air
IF hot oven for a second but when it is
,old, and especially when damp also, you may
lod it there for some time without feeirg
he heat very sensibly, and for long time
without being obliged to withdraw it. And /
10 Of the whole body. II appears then that
he body may carry less, as we'll as more heat.
han the quantity supplied by its own furnace.
It's extremties and its surface often become
painfully cold.
In winter, a traveller occasionally finds in
hotel deficiency of bed covering or In
he sensitiveness of diseases, he may require
more than in health The newspaper for
which he paid two cents on the cars, spread
Inder the upper cover will be equal to an ad-
Iitional blanket.
A piece of silk oil cloth, stitched in the
olds of shawl, is more flexible than the pa
,er, and will last whole winter. 1t has the
ldvantage of securing inward warmth with ]