Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-05-23
WHITE OR BLACK CLOTHING,
A Letter by Mayne Reid.

from The London News.
In recent article in the Daily Neus the
writer, after stating that a certain lecturer had
declared white TO be the best color for clothing
and adding that DR.. Richardson has recon-
inended gray on identical grounds, goes on to
Say for himself, Men will continue to wear
blaek-the coolest color In winter and the hot
test in summer" Now, the belief i'm black
being the warmest color for clothing and while
the Coolest has, up TO a late period. passed as
an nndisputed fact which, If / mistake not, /
was myself the first to challenge aud pronounce
erroneous-one of those lurking errors that
from earliest times have escaped the detection
OF science. did so in the Lire Stock journal of
date January "a. 1879; and as in a hygienic
point of view, the subject Is one of no slight
Importance, perhaps you will allow me to repeat
part of what L there and then said. The ques-
ton came up in connection with some Observa-
tons / had made on the snow-bleaching of GER
tain birds and quadrupeds, with reference also
10 queries thereon by the Ranffshire naturalist
Edwards. My remarks were In substance as
follows:
"Why do polar hares and foxes that are slate
Diue IN summer turn snow-white in winter /?
Nature effects the changes but with what object
and f0r what purpOseS The usual mode of &C
counting for it, when speaking of the hare. Is
that this defenseless creature by becoming white
Is assimilated to the color OF the snow and so
escapes the danger of being sighted by preda-
u
dress precisely at the same period of time; and
as he Is one OF these predatory animals his
altered hue enables him the more easily to ap-
proach this very prey! So that were that the
design Of the transformation, we should have
nature making a fool of herself, which nature
never does. Il am acquainted with the usual
test OF color temperature; the two pieces
OF cloth, white and black. spread upon snow.
When this proyerbial problem comes to be
more thoroughly investigated, it will go the
or lot
49,. While campaigning in a tropical country,
under the hottest of suns, l became aware
that black coat was cooler than a white one,
both being of the same weight. texture, and
thiekness-in short, c9te'-ts pds'tbus, save the
color. The fact led me to reflection, to cOrrela-
ton of other facts and circumstances observed
at the same time. as on other occasions For
one, could see that my negro servant alongside
me, enyeOped in a cOai-black skin, did not suf-
Ter from the fervid rays of the sun half so much
as ! under my tripe-colvred epidermis.- ~ hat
Could this be but a provision of nature-mer-
ciful nature-made for him whose home was
to be in the tOrrid zone? And the longer re-
NAMED within its limits the more could &C
knowledge her kindness in tanning nv cheeks
and so making them less sensitive to the scorch-
Ing of the sun. From the coat upon my back
and the color of my skin thought wandered to
the black bears of tropical countries-always
coatbiack-to the brown species Of temperate
climes, and on to the Arctic ice where Ursa
Is robed In white. Then, there is night and
day, shadow and sunlight, the dark, naked
ground, and the same covered with snowfall in
their opposed temperatures In conformity with
my belief a. above" Some ten months later
the Lancet, possibly inspired by what had said
IN the Liue-StOck Journal, thus made allusiOn to
The same subject: I'VE have more than once
asked attention for the undoubted effect Of
color on the radiating power of clothing :. Ger
fainiy ight-colored substances approaching to
white do not part with their heat so readily as
dark. The bear of the polar regions Is for this
reason provided with white fur, while her
brother OF warmer climates has dark-colofed
infegument. 1t therefore seems desirable to
prefer bright to somber hues. and ii this choice
were made the rusult would be an air of addi-
tional cheerfnlness in the public streets The
matter may seem Of small moment, but the life
we live Is made up Of small considerations and
little affairs" Now, this matter may not be Of
such small moment, but one having serious con-
sequences In o sanitary sense, aud 80 deserving
further investigation.