The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-02-06
The Philosophy OF Keeping Warm.

A thin shawl may be made warm Dy folding |
n neyspaper inside OF it. The paper is i'm /
peryious to the wind and cold air from ont
side and prevents the rapid escape OF the warm
air beneath it. Every one knows that the
heat of the body is carried off much more
ra pdly in high wind than in a calm. The
wind blows away the heat evolved from the
BODY bat in n perfectly still air this heat re-
mains, and constitutes an atmospheric en-
yelope so nearly of the same temperature
with the body itself, that the latter not so
quickly robhed of its natural heat
There ar -enie very interesting facts about
the body in power to make and contain heat,
which are familiar TO all, when told, but
which are seldom thought of in daily expe
rience. For example, the body will hold a
great deal more heat than il gets from its own
furnaces The stomach is furnace and our
food is the.fuel. 1t keeps up q uniform tenn
perature in the blood equal TO about 81 de-
grees of Fahrenhcit's thermometer. If the
stomach could consume food fast enough 10
maintain that heat, the body could not be
! frozen by any extreme of cold. Bnt i'll pro-
portion to the severity of cold TO which the
| body is exposed, is the rapidIty with which it
! Iooses. Some substances taken into the storn
| ach make n hot blaze much sooner than 9TH
ers, brandy. To put brandy in the stomach
| is like putting pitch under a steam boiler. 1t
| soon burns out, and the grea ter heat Injuries
| the furnace.
| We say that the body will hold more heat
| than ii gets from its own furnaces. Heat is
| measured by degrees. On going out of 4 warm
room, the body will immediate begin to lose
| its heat, and il must part with q certain mum
Der OF degrees before it can begin TO feel cold.
| The direction has sometimes been given
| Don't hug the stove, If you are going to set
| out on 4 cold Journey" But experience says
| do hug it. Get in many degrees Of heat as
| you can carry, if il is 800. Then wrap your
! self up well, aud you can economic these 800
degrees through Il long ride. But if you had
only taken 100 degrees at the start. they would
| have been exhausted mid way OF the journey,
and then you would have begun to feel cold -
| Nevertheless, it is an unhealthy habit TO ac-
| ones
more heat than is actually needed. Ihis Is :.
| very common fault, and bears on the pocket
rs well the health. One may easily get
| the habit OF requiring two or three more
| blankets on a bed than are necessary Some
families will burn twice the fuel tiat others
| do, and enjoy less comfort
The eXtreInities OF the body get cold first,
| often to Il painful degree, while the trunk Is
| warm. But so long the trunk keeps warm,
| III II person OF common, vigorous helitl, thefe
is little fear of catching cold by aching toes
| or fingers. in rail-car riding, it Is much safer
| to let the toes ache, than TO allow the lungs
| to feed on the foul air around the stove.
| When you set out on u winter journey, II you
| are liable TO suffer from cold toes, which many
| people do in spite of 'rubbers," fold 4 piece
| of newspaper over your stocking. which ycu
can readily do, if your boots or shoes are not
irrationaIly tight. This is better than rub
| bers, = which are in fact, very cold comiortera
| in extreme, while they make the ttet sweat IL
moderate weather. The main use of India
rubber overShoes is to keep out water, and
| IL
| ter proof first rate cait-skin boot There is
not more viliainously unwhoiesome article OF
wear made than the high topped rubber boot.
| l makes the foot tender, especially III cnli
dren, gives an ugly gait. and when lett Oh ni
| any weather, the Wearer is liable to ''cutch
cold" Saint Crspip is the best friend OF tie
human foot, when his leather and stltehers
are honest.
Although the body can take in Il greater
number OF degrees of hea than it gets from its
own furnace the stomach, yet its capacity is
limited in this respect. For example, when
the hand is warm you cannot hold 1t IN the
air OF a hot oven for Il second but when il is
cold, and especially when damp, also, you may
| hold it there for sometime without beng
Obliged to Withdraw 1t. AND so OF ne
| whole body. II appears that the body may
| carry less, as well rs more heat, than the
quantity supplied by its own furnace. It
eXtrenities and its surface often become pain
fully cold.
In winter, ira veler occasionally finds in 6
hotel deficiency of he'd covering: or, in the
sensitiveness of disease he may require more
than in health The newspaper for which h'
, | paid two cents on the cars, spread under tbs
upper cover, will be equal to an addluona
blanket.
A piece of silk oil CLOTH stitched in the folds
of A shawl is more flexible than the paper
and will last whole winter. 1t has the q p
, vantage of securing inward warmth Withou
the additional weight of thicker garment.
The constitutional viyacity and temper OF
person has much to do with his endurance
, cold For this vivacity is a sort OF neTYou
fire that lessons the sensibility TO outward
impression. An indifferent, milk-and- waite
, person, without energy aud force, Is al th
, mercy of every cold blast that sweeps roun'
: : the corner. He, and especially she, has no dc
fence but to wear dozen shawls during tn
day, and sleep under bale OF blankets a
night. One without any mental purpose
, unfortunately there are such, though i'll Wig
, orous health, is much more liable 10 catch coi'
than spirited delicate body bent on SOM
, positive pursuit.
! In this world OF changeabie clinatef, ther
are not 4 few people who get a habit OF bein
, annoyed by any weather that is in the slight
- | est degree adverse 10 their present caprice
= | In winter they don't like winter : i'll summer
n | they prefer autumn and i'll autumn, slTin
: : is the most delightful sea sou of TIE year. I
snow storm in August would be charming
. | but i'll its proper season it is q perfect nul
- s:nce. For such people, we ara utterly inca
, pable of writing any useful hints. We mop
>. they viii succeed in doing what they hav
:, set out to do, until they are punished III to ae
i | quiesceuce with all the seasons ci the wear
u | that is, in making themselves uncomfortable
= no matter what wind blows, or what su
shines.-Ihe Ceatury.
dat