394. ANCRUM ON WOOL MATTRESSES. 



our people. In this changeable and rigorous climate in winter, i'f all wert 



to wear flannel, particularly narrow-chested and delicate females, it would 



be of the greatest benefit to their health, and save them many a fit of sick- 



,t<ess. Wjien we consider how cheap the English sell their Welsh flan- 



[uel, it ought to stimulate our manufacturers; I must, however, observe, that 



; I never purchased any flannel in the United States equal to the real Welsh 



flannel, or that did not shrink, or that wore near so long as the English 



flannel. The English flannel has a nap on both sides, which renders it 



warm and soft, and it washes soft to the last. The United States flannel 



that I have used washes harsh, and the wear is not near so agreeable as 



real Welsh flannel, but surely all these difficulties can be overcome by our 



people, and they can make as good flannel as the best Welsh flannel. 



It is well known that woollen clothes, such as flannels, worn next the skin, 

 promote insensible perspiration. May not this arise principally from the 

 strong attraction which subsists between wool and the watery vapcr which is 

 continually issuing from the human body ? That it does net depend entirely 

 on the warmth of that covering is clear, because one degree of warmth produced 

 by wearing more clothing of a different kind does not produce the same effect,. 

 The perspiration of the human body being absorbed by a covering of flannel, 

 it is immediately distributed through the whole thickness of that substance, 

 and by this means exposed by a very large surface to be carried ofF by the 

 atmosphere, and the loss of the watery vapor which the flannel sustains on 

 the one side by evaporation, being immediately restored from the other in 

 consequence of the strong attraction between the flannel and this vapor, the 

 pores of the skin are disencumbered, and they are continually surrounded 

 with a dry and salubrious atmosphere. It is astonishing that the custom 

 of wearing flannel next the skin should not have prevailed more universally ; 

 it is certain it would prevent a number of diseases, and there certainly is na 

 greater luxury than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, 

 after one is accustomed to it. It is a mistaken notion that it is too warm 

 clothing for summer ; it may be worn in the hottest climates, at all seasons 

 of the year, without the least inconvenience arising from wearing it.* It is 

 the warm-bath of a perspiration confined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, 

 which renders the summer heats of southern climates so insupportable ; but 

 flannel promotes perspiration and favors its evaporation, and evaporation, 

 as it is well known, produces positive cold. I can vouch for the truth of 

 every word of this. I wear the same kind of flannel all summer as I do in 

 winter with sleeves ;* when I take extra exercise and perspire freely, my 

 body and flesh is always cool and comfortable, and in part I owe it to wear- 

 ing "flannel that I have never had either fever or ague in this western coun- 

 try, which is full of it. All this may appear trivial, and sanitary rules are 

 disregarded, but it is all of the utmost importance and to all. Say fifteen 

 millions of our people wear flannel next their skin, and three flannel waist- 

 coats to each, that is forty-five millions of waistcoats, at two yards each, 

 (not enough with sleeves as they ought to be made,) ninety millions of yards 

 of flannels in waistcoats only. Old people, delicate women and children, 

 and above all, consumptive people, ought all to wear flannel drawers as well 

 as a flannel waistcoat ; if this was adopted, the great sickness that prevails 

 in the United States would be much diminished. Men drink spirituoua 

 liquors to increase the animal heat, and feel that glow that is called com- 

 fortable. Let them wear flannel next their skin instead, and keep the body 

 ivrmn and the head cool, 



* Tho firemen in steamboats could not exist if they worn linen instead of flannel shirts. The pleasant 

 wt of ail mattresses is one made of a mixture of wool and hair. |E 8 I^OUGII, LOOM, ANJ> ANVIL.] 



