532 ox THE SCIENCE OF EASY CHAIRS. 



dent in hot climates, and is even retained by them after return- 

 ing to England. But the function of the camarband may, 

 to a certain extent, be fulfilled by change of posture alone. 

 When the legs are drawn up, as in the picture of Winter 

 already referred to, the thighs partially cover the abdomen, and 

 taking the place of additional clothing, aid the abdominal walls 

 in protecting the intestines and the blood they contain from the 

 cooling influence of the external air. 



Thus it is that in cold weather, when the quantity of covering 

 in bed is insufficient, persons naturally draw up their leg? 

 towards the abdomen, so as to retain as much heat as possible 

 before going to sleep. In hot weather, on the contrary, they 

 wish to expose the abdomen as much as possible to the cooling 

 influence of the atmosphere. The posture depicted by Alma 

 Tadema is the most efficient for this purpose. It no doubt 

 answers the purpose to lie down flat on one's back, but in this 

 position the abdominal walls are more or less tight, whereas, 

 when one of the legs is drawn up as in the painting just alluded 

 to, the walls are relaxed, and the intestines not being subject to 

 any pressure, the blood in them will circulate more rapidly, and 

 the cooling process be carried on more effectually. In this 

 attitude also the thighs are completely separated, and loss of 

 heat allowed from their whole surface. 



Varying conditions of fatigue also alter the postures which 

 people assume. When slightly tired one is content to sit down 

 in an ordinary chair in the position of the letter |\| with the 

 middle limb horizontal. As we get more and more fatigued we 

 usually assume positions in which the limbs of the |\| become 

 more and more oblique, the trunk leaning backwards and the 

 legs extending forwards. If we lie down in bed on our back 

 the legs will probably become straight, but if we rest upon our 

 side they will be more or less bent. The straightness of the 

 legs in the supine position is simply due to their weight, which 

 is then supported at every point by the bed, but when we lie on 

 our sides the genuflexion of the legs is most agreeable, because 

 not only are the muscles more perfectly relaxed, but, as the late 

 Professor Goodsir pointed out, the bones which form the knee- 

 joint are slightly removed one from another, and thus the joint 



