Some Advice As Winter Approaches

Here is something to contemplate as winter approaches, discovered in the Hudson Evening Register for January 7, 1897.

Theory About Winter Clothing.

It is a cardinal doctrine of Father Kneipp, the famous German water curist, that warmth is in the man, not in the clothing. He considers it, therefore, the greatest mistake to wear heavy woolen clothing next the body in winter. He substitutes instead a loose meshed linen, manufactured according to his directions. This, he says, is the only proper fabric from which to make garments to be worn next the skin. The mouths of the skin, of which there are millions, will thus not be clogged by lint and crushed by the weight of garments so that they are closed. Then they cannot do their work.

In Father Kneipp's observation, the persons who wear the heaviest woolen clothing next the skin and supplement this with a huge weight of garments outside are the ones who are constantly getting colds and fevers and rheumatism. He bids his patients remember always that the warmth and health are in the person himself, not in his clothing, that his clothing has little to do with it.

For winter, therefore, he recommends lightweight clothing, with always linen next the skin. He renders the skin hardy, rosy and robust by frequent exposure to cold water and to air. This brings out the latent power in the circulation and stirs the person to life and warmth. Father Kneipp has found that it is easy to habituate oneself to cold water and light clothing. The Kneipp doctrine is borne out by the fact that the Tierra del Fuegans, said by travelers to be magnificent specimens of physical development, go about in the ice and snow of their cold land with no clothing at all on and declare themselves entirely comfortable.