Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-11
Skin Should Never Be Dry.

Skin Should Never Be Dry.
When we bundle up" to keep dry
and warm" we are very apt to so
greatly oyerdo this that we are un-
able TO keep dry. as we should, but
perspire altogether too freely, then
comes a sudden chill and we are apt
TO suffer with a severe cold or even
pneumonia as result.
While the skin should never be
wet, neither should it be absolutely
dry. 1t should have plenty of free
dom, that is, access to the surround
ing air, to allow the natural moisture
to properly eyaporate.
skin that is not a little moist is
by no means healthy. Fever heats
the skim but when We touch a fever
sufferers forehead. we do not feel
any moisture, only a remarkably dry
skin along with the great heat.
FLUSHED and dry" is always spoken
of as one Of the symptoms of those
suffering with q fever Therefore, il
is plain that dry skin is not normal
or healthy.
Violent exercise might bring on a
temperature as high as that of 4
fever patieny but it is only temper
airy high temperature and the person
exercising is able to perspre freely
The clothing should be a matter of
great Importance to everyone The
chauffeur must not think that he can
wear exactly the same clothes as the
dry goods or bank clerk.
The bank clerk must work in a
warmer room and should not wear
the same thick clothing a chauffeur
needs To wear out i'm all sorts of
weather. The athlete needs only thin
cotton running pants while sprinting.
II he wore thick clothing he would
become loo greatly heated and after
his sprinting there would come a
sudden and dangerous chill.
Expert horsemen are apt t. be
more careful in this regard about
their horses than about themselves,
yet this important rule works equally
for man or for horse. The expert
horse owner will not put a heavy
blanket on his horse while exercising
him, nor will he keep him in sta bile
with a very thick blanket He slips
his horse in winter as well as in
summer. and after exercise puts a
thick blanket on the animal. After
the thick blanket a lighter one is
used inside. This prevents colds due
to cooling under a sweat -dampened
blanket.
Few American women take colds in
their own homes, because they do not
wear heavy garments. But American
women are frequently unable to stand
the English homes. That is because
the English do not heat their homes
as we do. The English called the
American women underclothed and
our homes overheated, while we con-
slider the English homes underheated
and the English women overclothed.
But neither is right. Americans
dress To fit the temperature of their
homes. So do the English women.
1t is all a matter of environment.
Great care should be taken to UNDER
stand this. Those whose lives sub
nit them to sudden changes must
dress to fit these changes, otherwise
their skin will first be too dry with
heavy clothing, then too wet with the
sudden cooling of the Precipitation
laden garments.
The. use of wool next to skin seems
to be disappearing, and the use OF
vegetable fibres becoming more com
mon. Cotton abSorbs extra perspira-
ton like a towel, and evaporates it to
the outer layers much more quickly
than wool, which becomes sodden.
The wooden garments. then. seem to
keep the skin too wet and subject TO
cold" from chilling, while the skin
under cotton is dry.
Wool In he dpGionpH Nv ~
ture To keep outer dampness from
reaching the skin, and no wool
clothed animal has sweat glands. So
the ideal coldweather clothing seems
to be cotton underneath and WOODEN
outer garments. but all varying in
weight and number of layers suf-
ficient To retain warmth but keep the
skin dry.
The man who dances in a hot ball
room. wearing heavy Woolens under
his dress suit, is sure 10 he overhead
ed and so drenched with perspira
ton, that chilling is sure to occur or
the way home when he is fatigued
and specially susceptible To infec-
tons. There is some sense, then in
the fad for wearing cotton summer
undergarments in such a tropica
environment. The skin is dry. and a
heavy ulster ON the way home pre-
vents chilling.