The Training of the Body for Games, Athletics, Gymnastics, and Other Forms of Exercise and for Health, Growth, and Development (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ...and opinions of the various races. A young savage with nothing on except a narrow apron may seem perfectly decent, while a strikingly 'dressed' woman may seem the very reverse. It was chiefly the desire for Health, perhaps, that led man to adopt clothing: for man is not clothed with natural hair. And this clothing, when it is rightly chosen, helps the skin to regulate the temperature of the body. When we are well clothed we need less warmth to keep up the heat in our bodies, and we therefore need less food to keep up that warmth. Thus clothing may have its economical value: it may save food. One layer of clothing may prevent the body from giving off too much heat; but two or three layers may do still more in this direction, for Air is a bad conductor of heat: it is a far worse conductor than Water. From this it is sufficiently evident thatTseveral layers of thin material, with a layer of air beneath each one, will be likely to 'conduct' worse, and therefore to keep you warmer, than a single garment, however thick, worn over the bare skin. The warmest materials are those which conduct heat least, as containing most air in their texture, e.g., sheep's wool. Cotton and twisted silk are better 'conductors' and therefore less warm. This of course assumes that the materials are dry. For wet material, if it is porous, is a good 'conductor' of heat. A macintosh or a newspaper, however, are among the most warming things that we can get: the warmth may not be healthy, but it is warmth, as the poor of London know. A point of special importance with regard to the choice of material is its capacity for absorbing moisture. A woollen material will absorb twice as much moisture (perspiration from the skin) as the same weight of linen; the linen gives off the moisture it ha...