DANGERS OF MUFFLERS AND FURS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 318, 3 June 1911, Page 10

DANGERS OF MUFFLERS AND FURS.

KEEL' THE NECK BARE. Men who always muffle up their throats, and women who never go out without yanlß of fur wrapped round their necks are meeting trouhle in the shape of sore throats and cokls half-way. This mania for wrapping-up is, indeed, one of the most absurd and over-rated "precautions" universally believed in. Almost every man, woman 4ind child you meet has his or her .neck covered, and* although they may look very comfortable and sensible, they are, if they only know it, very uncomfortable and very foolish. They are uncomfortable because they are adding to the already great weight of their winter clothing," and they are foolish because they are following a , fashion that defoats'its object. :l will (says an.M.D.) go so far as to say that, given an ordinary healthy person, wrapped up is a distinct danger to bodily well-being. Mufflers and furs, might, in fact and in very truth, be described as "doctor's friends." This may seem an outrageous statement, but it is a perfectly true and logical one nevertheless. In'the first, place, the neck is quite able to take car of itself. No exposed part of the body has a better or bigger supply oi blood constantly coursing through it, and no part is less likely to become "dead" with cold. The hands are infinitely more easily numbed, and yet us gloves are a luxury rather than a necessity, so much more are wraps a delusion and a snare. The worst thing they do is to produce condensation of air. If you wear anything wrapped at all closely round your neck yon confine air between it and the skin. As this warm air escapes it condenses and, settling on the muffler or fur, reduces (he temperature of that part of the body with which I hey come i]i contact. Any layman can guess what the result of that is likely to be. Silk is an especially bad material to wear round the neck, for its glazed surface quickly gets clammy from the moisture produced by this condensation. If you must wear a scarf, wear a woollen one. Wool, at any rate, absorbs moisture; also it is more porous, and so preserves a better ventilation.

Aii "open" throat, or even a turnedup collar, however, gives no chance for air to condense; a constant and everchanging stream of air is allowed to play on the neck, anil even temperature is thus maintained. Another great point against wraps is that few people—and women are particular sinners in this respect—will take the (rouble to ''regulate'' them according to the atmosphere in which they may happen to be. They lly from street to shop and from shop to train without the least thought of accommodating their neckwear to the varying degrees of cold and heat out 01 and into which they pass. People who will wrap up should remember to unwrap every time they got into a shop or 'bus — even if it be for five minutes only. ft may be argued that if this last precaution is rigidly observed, the wrapperii]) is taking better care of himself or herself than the nou-wrapper-up. This is not so, however, for whereas the former has, by wraps, created an artificial warmth round the neck, which must be maintained, the latter has nothing but the state of the temperature to contend aiMiiiM. In other words, the niull'led one handicaps himself against the weather; in irving to help Nature to battle against it he only hinders an ! makes the task more delicate and dillieiill. A Mioiig argument in favor of the nowraps theory lie-; in the fact that -ailors, soldiers and polieimen—all of whom are far more frei|tiently exposed to bad weather than is the ordinary individual—rarely or never muffle up. Sailors are especially deficient in any sort of "close" neck covering, yet they are anything but a sore-throated, cold-stricken race. Men are apt to believe that going out of doors on a cold day directly after shaving is dangerous unless the throat is protected by a muffler. It is—if warm water is used for sponging. If cold water is used, however, it effectually closes the pores of the skin, and so renders a, wrap unnecessary. There are occasions, of course, wdien it would be the height of folly to expose the throat to cold —on coming directly out of an exceptionally hot room, for instance —but, generally speaking, this craze for coiling things round the neck is a senseless one. It is almost on the same plane as st iilliugcotton wool in the ears every time you go out, for fear of catching cold. Finally, a word to those who still persist in wrapping up —if you have semething round your neck, choose something"; light in color—white prefi rably. 1;. is le.ss likely to become oppressively warm and so dangerous.