By L. L. McArthur, M. D.
Treasurer Medico-Legal Society, Chicago: Attending Physician Michael Riess and Mercy Hospitals, Chicago.
[Abstract of a paper read before the Chicago Medical Society on January 4, 1886.]
The object of clothing should be the promotion and maintenance of good health, together with a feeling of well-being under all atmospheric conditions.
Consideration of the subject naturally sub-divides itself into:
I. Materials.
II. Texture.
III. Form of clothing.
Chief among the materials used for clothing in the order of their respective merits are linen, cotton, silk, and wool, the latter being the best.
A few words as to these materials in the raw state:
Linen conducts heat better than cotton, silk or wool. It absorbs moisture and does not shrink. Cotton, also a vegetable fibre, which is hard, durable and does not shrink, has serious objections, in that it is very non-absorbent of moisture. It does not conduct heat as well as linen, but more rapidly than silk or wool.
Silk, an animal product, consisting of fine, smooth round fibrillæ, having been in the liquid condition before leaving the body of the silkworm, possesses no central canal, and no oily coating. It is quite a good absorbent of moisture, ranking next to wool. At ordinary temperature it always contains between 9 and 12 per centum of moisture. In its sale or purchase, account is taken of the amount of moisture in order to protect the purchaser from paying silk prices for water.