Suppose after dancing and perspiring freely, necessity should oblige one, with linen next his skin, to go suddenly into the cold air; what will be his sensation! what his risque! His linen will be soaked in sweat, and, like every thing excrementitious, disgustingly stinking; he will feel cold and shiver, his teeth will chatter, and it is a thousand to one but he catches cold; a hundred to one but his lungs become inflamed; for he is subjected to a source of cold, which those who wear flannel next the skin seldom or never are: this is the evaporation of the condensed fluid from their linen, which will be greater in proportion as it is exposed to more wind. "Thus it

appears how effectually a covering of wool can defend our bodies from sudden and excessive heat and cold; how exactly it co-operates with the powers of generating heat and cold in living systems, and how constantly it preserves us in that temperature which is most pleasurable as well as most natural and beneficial. "As to the benefits derived from flan nel as an electric, I cannot conveniently enlarge on them. [See Brydone's Tour through Sicily, &c.], It must suffice, at present, to have proved that heat and dryness are necessary to perspiration [See Home's Med. Facts and Exper. p. 245]; and that our clothes never feel so pleasant as when the matter perspired and the evaporation from our clothes are in such a given ratio to each other as to preserve us dry."

"Wool," says Dr. Willich, “ on account of it's rough surface, is more calculated to absorb infectious morbid matter than a more smooth substance; but we have nothing to apprehend from flannel upon the skin, and under the usual dress. I am rather of opinion, that it is a better preventive against contagion

than any other; because, while it encourages perspiration, it at the same time removes the inhaled poisonous particles, particularly if, in cases of danger, perspiration be increased by other suitable means. Hence people wearing flannel upon their skin, never suffer from cold. I have been informed, that the manufacturers in the different founderies of Birmingham, as well as the iron-works of Colebrook-dale and Kettley, in the most intense heat, wear no other but flannel shirts; and that without these it would be im possible to prevent, continual colds, and the most fatal diseases. These advantages strongly recommend the use of flannel to every one anxious to preserve his health, but particularly to those who are exposed to all kinds of weather, as husbandmen, fishermen, mariners, soldiers, and travellers. Those who complain of cold legs and feet, are never comfortable nor healthy: if they could be prevailed on to wear worsted stockings and flannel drawers, they would acquire a quicker circulation of the blood in the lower extremities, and prevent many troubles and indispositions, from which, without this precaution, they cannot escape. By continuing the use of flannel; sufficiently long, and changing it frequently, the most obstinate gouty and rheumatic complaints have often been removed, and many other imminent dans gers averted. Children afflicted with rickets, cannot be better relieved than by a proper diet, and flannel shirts, which may be daily fumigated with amber, petroleum, or other fragrant substances; a process which has been frequently productive of the most beneficial effects." [Lectures on Diet and Regimen.]

No. 47.

Objections to the foregoing Doctrine.

If an excess of perspiration be induced by warm or stimulant clothing, as by wearing flannel in contact with the skin in the summer months, a perpetual febricula is excited, both by preventing the access of cool air to the skin, and by perpetually goading it by the numerous and hard points of the ends of the wook; which when applied to the tender skins of young children, frequently produce the red gum, as it is called ; and in grown people, either an erysipe las, or a miliary eruption, attended with fever. Shirts made of cotton or calico stimulate the skin too much by the points of the fibres, tho' less than flannel; whence cotton handkerchiefs make the nose sore by frequent use. The fibres of cotton are, I suppose, ten times shorter than those of flax, and the number of points in consequence twenty times the number; and tho' the manufacturers singe their calicoes upon a red-hot iron cylinder, yet I have more than once seen an erysipelas induced or increased by the stimulus of calico, as well as of flannel.

The increase of perspiration by heat either of clothes, or of fire, contributes much to emaciate the body; as is well known to jockies, who, when they are a stone or two too heavy for riding, find the quickest way to lessen their weight is by sweating themselves between blankets in a warm room; but this likewise is a practice by no means to be recommended, as it weakens the system by the excess of so general a stimulus, brings on a premature old age, and shortens the span of life; as may be further deduced from the quick maturity, and shortness of the lives, of the inhabitants of Hindostan and other tropical climates.

er one.

M. Buffon made a curious experiment to shew this circumstance. He took a numerous brood of the butterflies of silk-worms, some hundreds of which left their eggs on the same day and hour; these he divided into two parcels; and placing one parcel in the south window, and the other in the north window of his house, he observed, that those in the colder situation lived many days longer than those in the warmFrom these observations it appears that the wearing of flannel clothing next the skin, which is now so much in fashion, however useful it may be in the winter to those who have cold extremities, bad digestions, or habitual coughs, must greatly debilitate them, if worn in the warm months, producing fevers, eruptions and premature old age." [Darwin's Zoonomia, v. 2. p. 23.] The cele brated Professor Hufeland, lays down the following conditions and limitations, in what relates to the use of flannel. “On the whole," says he, "I am of opinion that it would not be adviseable, at least to childdren and young persons, universally to adopt a woollen texture for the covering of the skin. It is, however a salutary dress to those who, in all probability, have commenced the second half of their lives; to all cold or phlegmatic temperaments; to all who lead a sedentary life; to individuals subjected to catarrhs, or frequent colds, gout, diarrhoea, and partial congestions of the blood; to all nervous patients and con valescents from severe chronical disorders; to persons who are too susceptible of the impressions of the atmosphere; and, lastly, in such climates and pursuits of life as are exposed to frequent and sudden changes of air. It is, on the contrary, hurtful to all those, without exception, who are already subjected

"Children in gert

free and unshackled... eral are too warmly clothed, particularly in their earliest infancy. It is much better to inure them to cold than to heat. The former will never hurt them if they be exposed to it from an early period; but the loose and porous texture of their skin, leaving too great an opening for perspiration, subjects, them to an inevitable waste of strength and spirits, from extreme heat. Hence it is that more die in Augusti than in any other month of the year. Besides it is evident, on a comparison between the inhabitants of northern and those of southern climates, that mankind grow more robust by supporting excessive cold, than they do by bearing excessive heat. However, as the child grows up, and his fibres gather strength, you should inure him step by step to bear the rays of the sun; provided you advance gradually you may inure him, without risk, to the scorching heat of the torrid zone." [Rousseau's Emilius, v. 1.

p. 228.] On the Causes and Consequences of a too early Secre tion and Emission of Semen.

During the first fifteen or sixteen years of life, the testicles ought to receive only so much blood as is necessary to keep open the veins and channels for the future secretion of seed, that the want of blood and warmth in the testicles may prevent the secretion of any seed during childhood, A boy is hardly

three years old but he must be a man, he must wear breeches. In his frock the boy was easy, and free to jump and gambol at his pleasure; in his breeches he is, 1, Pent up and shackled, and by way of compensation his mind is stuffed with opinion and folly. He bears the burden of his breeches without a mur