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42
The Science of Dress.
[CHAP. III.

tection to the creatures on which they grow, and they save those creatures from being frozen to death, keeping their blood very far above the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere, which may be below freezing-point, while the interior of their bodies is about 99° to 104° Fahr. Thus human travellers in Arctic regions case themselves in fur, as, without such a non-conductor to retain it, the heat of their bodies would be conducted away into the freezing air quicker than it could be replaced, and the coldness of death would inevitably follow.

Probably every one is aware that clothes are worn to keep us warm, but not all seem to know that they do not communicate warmth to us, but effect their purpose simply by preventing the excessive loss of that heat which is manufactured in our own bodies. Hence, we are warm in proportion as our clothes are non-conductors of heat. As an instance of ignorance on this point, I may quote from an article called " Practical Hints on Children's Clothing," published in The Queen shortly after the publication in that paper of my own views on the subject. I should not have referred to this article, which is for the most part merely a restatement of those popular ideas to which I take exception, had not "A Lover of Babies" made the following remark. She says, "It must not be forgotten that wool is a non-conductor of heat, so that if you wrap a child up in ever so much flannel and do not first ascertain that its body and legs are warm, it remains cold all day."

Now, the temperature of a baby's body is nearly