Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-15

A NEW DRESS REFORM.
Thousands of Germans Now Wearing
Wooden Clothing Only.


Thousands of Germans Now Wearing
Wooden Clothing Only.
The doctrine starts with the fundamental
principle that, being animals, we should
wear animal clothing. The absorption by
vegetable life Of poisonous carnations from
animal life is process not limited, it would
appear, to living plants, but continued by
vegetable fiber, such as cotton, linen, etc,
with the difference that, while the living
plant assimilates these emanations, the dead
| fiber cannot do 50, but exhales them again
when wetted or warmed. Thus our clothes,
in consequence of their vegetable charac-
ter, attract and retain these noxious prin-
ciples, which should, on the contrary, be
thrown off with the greatest possible
promptitude. On the other hand, animal
material, such as wool, is made by nature
to protect animal life and will not pre-
vent, but assist the evaporation of the en-
anations from the body. This can readily
be proved by the sense of smell. 1t sutfices
to wear clothes of pure wool throughout,
and there is at once an end to the unpleas
antness noticed in the linen Undertaking,
the cotton Innings of the coat, etc. From
these facts Dr. Gustav Jaeger, Professor OF
Zoology and Physiology at Stuttgart, de-
duces his medical theory, which has won
/ innumerable disciples in an incredibly
short time.
| DIR. Jaeger points out that the human
body is most susceptible to disease when it
contains too large a quantity of water or of
fat. The presence in excess of these sub
stances can be tested by the specific weight
and the rapidity of the nervous action.
But the specific weight must be given in
proportion with the cubic measurement of
the person, and this latter is not easy to
ascertain. By the immersion of the body
in measured tank we have a rough-and
ready method Of gauging its cubic ca
pacitv, which must correspond with the
| displacement Of the water. DR.. jaeger,
| however, has constructed an air-tight
chamber where column of mercury
records the amount of compression brought
to bear upon the air by the introduction
of foreign body Or person
Out of sixty-fivc men, thus measured,
DR.. Jaeger found that the liter varied from
764 to 1000 grammes, difference of al
most 40 per cent To test the nervous
activity stop-watch is employed which
can record the two-thousandth part of a
ScCOHu- i nc operator SGlS INC lilttA lldiltl
in motion, which has then to be immedi-
ately stopped by the person undergoing
the test. The difference between the two
readings records the time needed for the
excitation, produced by the sight of the
moving handle, to run its course through
the eve, the optic nerves. the brain, the
nerves Of the arm, and finally to reach the
muscles which actuate the finger that stops
the watch. Experiments in this manner
showed in one instance that the rapidity of
action after Turkish bath increased to
| the extent of Is per cent.
What is now known as DIR. Jaegers sani-
tary wooden clothing is 50 contrived as to
obviate these evils The clothing consists,
| for men, OF tight-fitting stockingette under
garments made Of pure undyed wool, fas
tened over the shoulder and of double
thickness over the breast. The coat OF
Jacket is double-breasted, buttoned well up
| to the throat contains no lining or padding
unless OF pure wool, and is either undyed
or treated only with uniniurious fast dyes.
! The same rule applies to the trousers, while
the waistcoat is either dispensed with alto
gethcr or it forms an inner flap affixed to
the side OF the coat. Inside the sleeves
and the trousers legs there is a contrivauce
which, fastening tight round the limb, pre-
vents up-drauchts; for cold rheumatism,
| iumbaeo, ETC. are caught by the Sudden
rash Of cold air to one particular part Of
the body, and not by the gradual cooling OF
| the entire system. The feed are clad in
pure wooden socks with divisions for each
toe, while the upper part Of the boot is made
of felt, the lower part also Of felt or of por-
ors leather, and the inner soles consist Of
perforated leather and layers Of felt. Thus
the boot is thoroughly porous, and the feet
are consequently kept as clean and as pure
as the hands.
BY doubly protecting the front of the
BODY, where the blood vessels converge,
these are stimulated; and, as an even tenn
perature is maintained, the necessity for
greatcoats Is o'yiated, rain or damp hay-
ing little or no effect, for in every case
gradual and even evaporation is insured.
While they are the best protection against
cold, these clothes are also the coolest in
simmer. Little or no change need be
made between winter and summer, at least
in the temperate region; and means have
been found by which this system can with
equal facility be adopted by women. Nor
can woOlenite" be easily distinguished
from the woodenites," as the wearer of
vegetable fiber may be called. The substi-
tuition of collar made Of unstarched
white cashmere for the customary starchel
linen collar is the most conspicuous feature
in the dress; otherwise it would be diff
cult to detect the disciples Of this system.
The cashmere collar, however, Is not only
most comfortable, but is preventive of
throat disorders.
All these precautions taken during the
day must be continued at night. The bed
must also be free from vegetable fiber. The
linen sheet must be replaced 10y WOODEN
blankets or camei-hair rugs, with white
cashmere sheets, il preferred. The mattress
and the pillow should also be stuffed and
covered with wool; but when thus pro-
tected the sleeper need fear neither cold
nor change Of temperature, and is, there
fore, urged to keep his window well open
at night Indeed the possibility of thus
securing pure air in the bedroom without
risk, is one of the most important adj
yantagcs OF the system. In reward for
this great change in the mode of living the
action of the skin is 50 stimulated that the
noxious principles, the "bad humors' our
foreiathers 50 often spoke about, are soon
given of and eyaporated. Corpulence is
reduced, the flesh becomes firm and
thoroughly hardened while the acccl-
Grafton Of nervous action and general
improvement! in the physical and mental
working powers is demonstrated by a
stop-watoh test. Then, according to DIR.
Jaeger, the body has resumed its normal
condition.
such, briefly, j. the reform in clothing
approved and carried out by thousands of
Germans, not 4 few Russians and some
Englishmen, and which has been intro
duced in our midst at the South Kensing-
ton International Health Exhibition and
by the opening Of depot in Fore street,
where articles of every description in con-
neetion with the system are to be seen.-
London Times.
Personal AND LITERARY.