The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-08-07
some ADVICE ON
CLOTHING BABY
Editorial In American Medical Asso-
citation Journal Suggests What
to do With His Hlshness
This Weather.
TEMPERATURES
The Necessity for Clothes a. Well az
the Sort Of Clothes, Is
Discussed BY
Doctors.

with clothing of infants as pertaining
70 cne1r health. For every mother with
young children this article will have
special appeal. Here Is what the
editor says:
Inc recommendation OF hygienic
Clothing for adults is difficult because
OF the twofold function of dress in
grown Individuals The purpose OF
clothing Is primarily to insulate the
Dody against cold and to maintain q
constant body temperature. Clothing
lurther serves as protection against
external objects; but from time i'm.
memorial decoration has been one OF
the most significant and directive in
fluences in the selection OF BODY
coverings. 1t has been remarked that
pride should not be the. only source
OF warmth; and that although per.
sons cannot easily overlook or neglect
the dictates OF custom and fashion.
the selection OF clothing should be
based as largely as possible on occu.
patton, conditions Of health and the
requirements Of age. Precisely as
clothing in winter should prevent I'm.
due loss OF heat from the skin, so in
summer 1t should not interfere with
the dissipation OF heat.
Infants, 1t might naturally be ex.
pected. would be clothed with maxi.
mum regard for physiologic propriety
and minimum consideration for con.
flicting fashions. The demands for
freakish dress are certainly less like
ly to pertain to the period of infant
life. during which one may reasonably
expect clothing to be hygienic If not
artistic. The admonition to conserve
the heat OF the young is freely given.
in view of the fact that heat is easily
dissipated through thin textiles and
scant clothing with which the young
are sometimes provided without real
tzation OF the harm to which their
frail bodies are thereby exposed. The
contrary danger of heat stats in in
fants as the result OF improper cloth
ing during periods of high external
temperature and humidity is less well
recognized. AT any rate. 1t received
little scientific attention prior to the
studies OF Mcclure and Sauer at the
Ohio S. A. Sprague Memorial Insti-
tute laboratory Of the Children's
Memorial hospital in Chicago. They
showed that in animals, coverings
may SO seriously interfere with the
loss OF body heat at moderately high
temperatures dS W NtdUSc Oe-dIu LA
the case of clothed infants, the de-
termining factor In the rate of heat
loss by conduction and radiation is
the difference between the surface
temperature of the clothes and the
temperature OF the surrounding air:
in the case of the unclothed infant it
is the difference between the air and
the surface temperature OF the skin.
A series OF readings made on in
fants wearing ordinary hospital
clothing showed that when the room
reached about 81 G..
(S7.8 F. the temperature at the sur
face of the clothes was so nearly the
same that heat loss by conduction
and radiation no longer remained pos
sible. The skin surface OF the un-
clothed infant, however, still showed
sufficient excess to facilitate loss of
heat in the same environment.
Data such as these point out clear
" the danger limits Of undue clothing
OF infants in hot surroundings. They
deserve emphasis because in the abb
sence of the power of speech in early
life the health and comfort of chill
dren are dependent in no small meas
ure on the intelligent procedure OF
those in whose care the young are en-
trusted. Clothing may be a menace
as we'll as blessing. One reason for
this has become apparent from these
new researches.