The Washington herald., 1912-03-10


protect the underlying parts, to act as
an organ Of sensation, and TO throw OF
heat and moisture. thus regulating the
temperature and fluid contents Of the
body The temperature at which the
skin best performs this latter duty is in
the neighborhood OF IS degrees. In trop-
ical regions this temperature IS main
tanned without the need of clothing; 50
our aboriginal ancestors in their tropical
abodes, wore no clothes.
To-day many inhabitants of the tropics
wear no clothes, and those who do, wear
them for other purposes than warmth.
When humanity began TO migrate from
the tropics northward and southwark,
they encountered temperatures which
made it impossible to maintain the nee
essary warmth of the skin under primi-
tive conditions; so they began to initiate
the animals they found there, and clothed
themselves in the skins of beasts.
Clothing has other functions beside the
maintenance Of warmth; II protects from
the rays of the sun, from the stress of
A bad weather, from wounding by briers
and other vegetation, and. in the case of
shoes, from rough and stony ground.
Later. as man began to emerge from the
savage state, clothing began to have the
function Of contributing to decency and
beauty. We must not forget. however,
that the original purpose of clothing is
the maintenance of the proper tempera-
ture and moisture of the skin so that It
may perform its vital functions to the
best advantage. Other uses are OF Sec
ondary Importance, and rational civil
ization would not permit more impor-
tant function TO be sacrificed TO less
important one.
When the body is covered with cloth
ing, the fabric prevents to a greater or
less degree the warmth aud moisture gen.
Grated by the body from being thrown
of into the surrounding air. There is
retained between the skin and outer layer
OF clothing a jacket OF warm air OF the
proper temperature for the skin to act
properly. Thus the human being may be
said to carry around with him, by means
Of clothing, a small section OF his ma
tive tropical climate, and is independent
Of the temperature of the air where he is.
Different fabrics have different capsci-
ties for retaining heat and moisture; for
example, wool retains most heat, and
permits most readily the passage of
moisture. 1t is therefore most suitable
for colder weather. Cotton. on the other
hand, holds moisture, and permits the
escape Of heat Other fabrics possess
and this fact controls their usefulness as
clothing under varying conditions. The
retention Of heat and moisture is greater
with any fabric, the more closely woven
it is.
The above is the primary object OF
clothing and should have first consid-
Grafton by every one. Other functions
vary in Importance according to the
occupation Of the individual Decorative
more Importance to woman, because IL is
necessary that she be personally attrac-
tive. Protective effects are of less i'm
portance in her case, because in her do
mestic lie she is less exposed to in
jury from her environment.
Any one will admit as an abstract
proposition that clothing-a thing intend
ed to increase the range and efficiency OF
man-should not have qualities that un-
necessarily hamper his usefulness. Here
in lie the defects OF many articles of
modern attire. Woman suffers far more
than men from these defects. Override
Votion to conceptions Cor misconcep-
tions) of beauty is the source of these
defects and of the suffering they entail.
Perhaps there is no more difficult thing
than TO decide what constitutes beauty.
1t is certainly an error to confuse il
with fashion. Fashion is ever changing.
and things beautiful by this standard ten
years ago are to-day hideous and out
landish. If these were beautiful then
they could not be ugly now. Critics
OF art have commented for years on the
difficulty of this question. Most of them
suggest symmetry and proportion as the
essential qualities. Perhaps Rodin, the
great French sculptor. found the kernel
of the matter when he asserted that the
degree OF beauty Of any object is in
direct proportion TO the perfection with
which Il accomplishes the purpose for
which il is designed. We do not undeF-
take to settle this question. but deny that
fashion is any guide I'm the matter, and
as fashion is responsible for most OF the !
injurious defects in clothing that We are
about TO describe We must accuse her
of being in the main responsible for
most of the suffering arising from these |
defects.
II will not be possible, in a paper Of
this length, to describe all the defects |
of our modern attire. so we shall limit |
ourselves TO the most important. Be
ginning at the bottom We find that shoes, |
those worn by women, are de- |
fectfve. Great loss of efficiency and suf- |
fering arise from these defects.
The best material yet discovered, from |
omy, is leather. Leather wears well /
protects satisfactorily from ordinary |
sources OF injury, keeps out moisture tol- /
srably well, and keeps in heat. It has |
the disadvantage OF retaining too much /
moisture and preventing evaporation. /
This dampens the stocking and makes II |
impossible 10 maintain the proper tenn
perature of the skin, causing the cold |
feet from which so many peo-
pie suffer. This difficulty can be partly
overcome by substituting wooden stock
ings for cotton ones.
Shoes usually do not fit the feet; they
are 100 tight or Of improper shape We
know that If muscle or joint does not
get proper exercise IL viii get weak. II
q healthy arm is incased in plaster of |
paris for six weeks, on the removal of
the plaster the arm will be found wasted,
the muscles weak and nabby. and the
joints stiff. Hard, infiexible shoes, that
prevent free movement of the joints of
the foot, act like the plaster of paris
splint, interfering with the development