i 9 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



woman, with the one exception of the graceful outer gown or robe, as 

 a supplement to her own superior grace and beauty. 



It is told of the late eminent surgeon Mr. Cline, the teacher of Sir 

 Astley Cooper, that when he was consulted by a lady on the question 

 how she should prevent a girl from growing up misshapened, he replied, 

 " Let her have no stays, and let her run about like the boys." I gladly 

 reecho this wise advice of the great surgeon ; and I would venture to 

 add to it another suggestion. I would say to the mothers of England : 

 Let your girls dress just like your boys, make no difference whatever in 

 respect to them give them knickerbockers, if you like with these ex- 

 ceptions, that the under-garments be of a little lighter material, and 

 that they be supplemented by an outer gown or robe which shall take 

 the place of the outer coat of the boys, and shall make them look dis- 

 tinctively what they are girls clothed cap-a-pie, and well clothed from 

 head to foot. 



In speaking of these mechanical arrangements of dress I have as yet 

 made no mention of the throat and the head as parts requiring to be 

 clothed. In suggesting that girls should be clothed as fully as boys, I 

 have incidentally conveyed that the chest of the girl should be covered, 

 and I would add that in both sexes the throat should be covered also 

 during the period extending from October to April. The throat is one 

 of the most important parts to protect, and it is, as is well known, one 

 of the most common parts of the body to become affected during cold 

 weather. In this past bad weather it has been my constant I had 

 nearly said, daily observation to see some affection of the throat, at- 

 tended with cold, and so often has this occurred in those whose throats 

 have been uncovered as compared with those who have used careful 

 moderate covering, that I can not doubt that the absence of such cover- 

 ings has had, and has, a very deleterious effect. 



Of coverings for the head I should say that they should be always 

 light and free, whether a bonnet, or a cap, or a hat be the subject un- 

 der dispute. I think the gypsy hat beats the Quaker bonnet for the 

 fairer sex ; and, although for men I can not say anything in favor of 

 the tall chimney-pot that will redeem it from its ugliness, I must claim 

 for it that, when it is light and well ventilated, it is healthy. The felt 

 hats are too closely fitting, though some are becoming. The stiff felt 

 hat, with narrow, turned-up brim, and which looks like a Roundhead's 

 helmet without the metal, is in respect to health miserable, and in re- 

 spect to appearance simply hideous. The most graceful of all head- 

 dresses for either sex and it suits either is the fine old Geneva cap, 

 sometimes called the " Leonardo da Vinci," which I wear on occasions, 

 by right, as the doctor's cap of the old University of St. Andrews. It 

 is not merely a handsome head-dress, it is healthy also, and adapts itself 

 to heat and cold. I, for one, would willingly give up the particular 

 privilege of wearing it, to see it more widely adopted. 



II. From the subject of mechanical adaptations of dress I pass to 



