WHAT TO WEAR IN HOT WEATHER.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 225, 3 January 1885, Page 10

WHAT TO WEAR IN HOT WEATHER.

Tiie following remarks on the subject of the fittest clothing- to wear during the summer season, may prove interesting to our readers: — Scientific people are by no.# means agreed in opinion about the relation of color to warmth. Stark and Coulier, who have made a special study of the subject, think that the influence of color is not the same in regard to the radiation of heat heat from the body, and to the penetration of solar heat from without. They hold that black garments radiate the maximum of caloric, and that white ones best retain the heat of the body, protecting it equally well against the exterior temperature, so that such garments are always the best to wear, alike in hot and cold weather ; for in hot weather they absorb less solar heat than . black or colored dresses, and in cold weather they retain better than these last the animal warmth of the surface of the skin. Certain it is that in very severe latitudes, the fur and feathers of wild creatures are almost invariably white or silver grey. The Polar bear, the ermine, the Artie fox, and Siberian dog are examples. On the other hand, white flannel is usually found cooler than/colored by cricketers and boating men ; and white cotton, muslin, and linen are worn for the same reason by the inhabitants of tropical countries. Other hygienists of repute — Rumfort and Horne — hold a different opinion, and counsel the use of black garments in hot climates. Although in this respect, as in so many others, " doctors differ," experience amply proves the superior • coolness of white clothing, and many scientists, therefore, decidedly endorse Professor Tyndall's view that "black dresses are more potent than white ones, as ab- ■ sorbers of solar heat." (v. Professor Tyndall's lecture " On Radiant Heat," delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain, January 19, 1866.) In the Polar regions there is but little solar heat available, therefore Mature clothes the Arctic animals in white, in order to retain the bodily temperature and prevent a too rapid radiation. The same motive is applicable to the wearing by ourselves of white woollen apparel and furs in winter, when the sun's ; rays have but scant power.