504 Mr. Leonard Hill on The Science of Clothing [Jan. 'zs, 



talked about the relative merits of cotton and woollen stuffs. Cotton 

 flannelette niade to entangle air like flannel is as warm as flannel. 



The lecturer demonstrated with the Kata-thermometer the 

 enormously greater rate of cooling in cold water compared to air of 

 the same temperature, and showed the influence of a wet woollen 

 glove with entangled air compared to that of a glove wet and 

 containing no air, and that of a water-proof glove. 



In the causation of trench feet, the soldiers are immersed in cold 

 water for many hours. Bacterial decomposition of the skin secre- 

 tions takes place if boots and stockings are worn continually for 

 days, and the skin is macerated by the ammoniacal products. Water 

 soaks into the macerated skin and causes local destruction of the 

 tissues. Prolonged immersion in soa-water is endured l)y fishermen 

 with impunity because of the salt, which prevents maceration of the 

 skin — a question of difference of osmotic pressure. It is not, then, 

 merely the prolonged chilling, but the soaking of water into the skin 

 which helps to do the damage. The continuous pressure of the 

 boot on certain parts helps to produce the injury. Ointments made 

 with antiseptics, such as salicylic acids and essential oils, have been 

 used by the Italian soldiers, spread on cotton cloths and wrapped 

 round the feet. Prophylactic discipline, directed towards changing 

 the stockings, drying and cleaning the feet, is of the greatest 

 importance. This and the provision of waterproof waders, and 

 trenches properly built with planked pathways and water-channels 

 beneath, have prevented the suffering which our troops endured in 

 the first winter of the war. 



[L.H.] 



WEEKLY EVEXING MEETING, 

 Friday, February 4, 1916. 



The Right Hox. Lord Wrenbury, P.O., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



Professor William Bateson, D.Sc. F.R.S. 

 Fifteen Years of Mendel ism. 



[No Abstract.] 



