The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-10-10
The Human Shirt.

Inc nuWdu CUlIts
New York Parer.l
It is manifest that the human shirt
has passed through series of import
ant notifications. The shirt of the store
age did not open--in the sense that the
contemporaneous shirt opens-either in
front or behind. 1t had simply large
hole for the reception of the head and
neck, and was devoid of either studs Or
buttons. At later period the shirt de-
veloped an opening in front, and little
later studs wherewith to temporarily
close this opening. This type of shirt
was remarkably persistent, and, in fact,
became extinct at about the same time
as the great ark of Newfoundland, or
in other words, as late as the beginning
of the present century. In the existing
shirt, which is one of the most widely
difused of human garments, the front
opening is closed, and an opening in the
back has taken its place. Studs, which
are now useless, exist merely in rudi-
mentary form, and what was once the
horn button of the stud is now merely
frail growth of spiral wire. What has
produced these successive developments
is one of the most interesting inquiries
which the Darwinian investigation can
undertake.
The first appearance of the shirt with
the opening in front was contemporary,
according to paleontologists, with the
first efforts of man to navigate the
water. In the. stone age, boats of any
kind, from logs up to Cunard steamers,
were unknown, but, in course of time,
man began to paddle across rivers, say
A ~ he
pie log now in use among Australians.
Naturally, he frequently got very wet,
and hence it became an object to him to
remove his shirt with ease and rapidity.
Hence the front opening was developed
substantially as it appears in the shirts
of the period Immediately preceding the
stone age.
1t is agreed by all the anthropologists
| that the iron age, or the age when fat
irons came into use as domestic weapons
succeeded the stone age. The shirt
bosom naturally followed the introduce
| ton of fat-irons. II is obvious that no
woman of the period could have pos
sessed a hat-iron without wishing to iron
something with it, and the shirt bosom
was developed to supply the want.
! About the same time studs appeared.
They were needed to keep the shirt
bosom closed, SO that the owner could
shut himself inside of it with view to
privacy, and were the device of a people
among whom needles and thread, and
as consequence, buttons were un
known. Thus we can trace by success
i've and well-defned steps the develop
ment of the rude uniformed shirt of the
stone age, which was usually made O.
the coarse cloths manufactured of mai
bags and cotton bales, until the shir
with an opening in front, and ironeC
bosom, and three studs-in short, tn,
; species classified by Western paleontolo
gists, under the name "biled shirt -
became the ruling type.
One of our most profound washerwo
men, who has devoted a life time to tn
! the opening at the back of the neck wa
first developed either in Scotland, a
about the period when the Duke of Al
gyle erected his famous posts, or il
America soon after the early colonist
t made the acquaintance of the mosquito
This theory is ingenious and plausible
but it is open to the objection that it
not true. The modern species of shirt
2 is older than the Duke of Argyle's post
=. or the early settlement of America
t Doubtless it was found to be peculiarI
4 adapted for Scottish and mosquito pun
poses, and its rapid increase may yer
4 possibly have been effected by counter
irritant considerations, but the latte
were not the cause of the great chang
t which we are now investigating. w
e can, however, confidently assert tha
: this change took place in this countr
soon after its settlement, and in Ell
4 gland soon after the passage of the frs
D great Reform bill. That is to say,
1 took place when demagogues began t
: bid for the popular vote. Now, tn
: demagogue, with nicely-ironed shir
!, bosom could not with any plausibilit
4 represent himself as plain workin
: man. In order TO do this it was nece
P sary that he should wear shirt-bosol
devoid of starch and made of coarse m;
: terials. Hence, it occurred to him ths
e were he to wear his shirt wrong side bI
e fore, and cut q slip in it to simulate a
o unironed and unornamented bosom, h
S would strengthen his popularity. ] her
8 then, is the origin of the shirt with a
opening behind. With the growth {
e popular intelligence its original purpo
l. has been forgotten, and no one now a
r. tempts to wear his shirt wrong side
+ fore. The slit by the ingenious dem
q gogue still remains, however, and tN
n Sits being unnecessary, nature b.
closed the front opening and decorate
q it with rudimentary studs.
n These profound Investigations, invol
II ng,as they do prolonged process of su
y tie reasoning, are exhausting, but,
the cause of science, it is our duty
g sacrifice everything in pursui. of trut