The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-11-04
DarUinism in Dress.

The individual on the lookout for a
subject of curious interest would be
likely to think of a good many things
before it occurred to him to inquire in
to what we may call the archaeology of
his own garments. Where, in the name
of all that is tasteful and convenient,
did Western Europeans get the idea of
chimney-pot hatp Who first invented
pair of trousers, and what sporting
genius first set society in a roar of
laughter by appearing in a swallow4ail
coat? Who first conceived the idea of
putting on hat-band when his wife's
grandmother died, and where did we
get the notion of gloves? There was q
highly interesting anthropological col
lection exhibited in Bethnal-green Muse
um four or five years ago, from which it
was made evident to the meanest COM
prehension that uncivilized man never
invented anything-that all his imple-
ments of warfare, his articles of cloth
ing or domestic utility, his tribal en-
blems and his musical instruments were
the gradual outgrowth of rudimentary
ideas sometimes furnished by some
natural form evident enough, but some
times lost in the obscurity of unhistori-
cal times. Highly-civilized people, such
not of course but wonder at the puny
powers of these infants of nature as dis
played in their relics. To how few of
the spectators would it occur that from
the crown of their hats to the soles of
their shoes everything about them bore
witness to the same want of inventive
ness. and the same gradual growth out
of rudimentary ideas. A very cursory
study of such book as Fairholt's 90 Cos
tune in England suggests that this
really is the case, and Mr.. q. II. Dar-
win, son of the famous biologist, has in
n very interesting manner proved that
it is so, at any rate to a very great ex-
tent.
The hat presents a remarkable illus
tration of gradual transition. Pugin
says, in his :. GLOSSARY of Ecclesiastical
Ornament and Costume" that hoods
are the most ancient covering of the
head. They formed part of the princi-
pal outer garment of the body, and it is
not difficult to understand that the idea
of a hat would arise in the mere separa-
ton of the hood for convenience. This
is quite consistent with what Mr.. Dar-
win says, that hats were originally
made of some soft material, probably of
cloth or leather, and, in order to make
them fit the head, a cord was fastened
round them so as to make sort of con-
traction" All the early hats, he says, seem
to be provided with some sort of band,
which survived the gradual stiffening
of the material of which the hat was
formed, and is observable in the strings
. of the Scotch cap and even in the mitre
of the bishop, which thus proves itself
to have had n common origin with the
! iayman' $ ordinary headgear. The COM
moa HucSled band on a black hat has
been retained probably because it has
served the purposes of hiding the seam
between the brim and the upper part,
and il was no doubt the existence of this
narrow ribbon that originated the
mourning hand. which is merely the
original ribbon wldened and made in a
suitable material.
But this is not all. The stiff material
of which in course Of time it came to be
the fashion to MAKE hats precluded the
possibility of tying them so as to make
them fit the head. Still the idea of
such tying and of its desirability sur
vived, and was actually perpetrated in
the lining, which, as everybody may see
by taking off his hat, still presents.
little silk cord threaded through series
of Sits on the upper edge of the thin
band of leather fitting on to the head.
Nobody, of course, thinks of tying this
lining to his head, but there is the sur
viving idea, and so plainly obsolete,
that it is not unusual to see the edge of
the leather merely indented and a small
bow of silk cord alone testifying to the
old form of kat. 1t is certainly very
amusing proof that it is not only savages
who lazily develop and adapt rather
than invent.
Then, again, the coat. Fair5olt says:
's The modern gentleman's coat may
be said to take its origin from the vest
or long outer garment worn toward the
reign of Charles II.n This vest, which
he illustrates by engravings, appears TO
have been merely a loose garment with
out any gathering in at the waist, and
having buttons and button-holes all
down the front. No doubt it had ar
rived at that form through innumerable
mutations, and it has certainly under
gone great many since Charles time.
To one feature it may clearly be traced
the modern " swallow-tair' diver.
sion of the tail of dress or frock-coat
by a slit down the middle. A mere bag
shaped garment reaching far down the
legs and buttoned all the way would ev-
identity be inconvenient for riding on
horseback. Necessity. therefore, sug-
gested u slit little way up the tail of
the vest, and this was furnished with
buttons and button-holes like the front.
Hence it was, says Mr.. Darwin, that
long after the vest had developed into
the coat, coat-tails were ornamented
with gold lacing on either side of the
slit in the tail, just as when buttons and
button-holes were there.-London Pa
per.