186 



♦ KNO^^^LEDGE ♦ 



[March 6, 1885. 



energy of these compared with the inconceivable energy of 

 the whole universe of suns. 



We cannot follow step by step these tremendous pro- 

 gressions of force, or even take a single step along the 

 road which leads to this infinity of might. We are ap- 

 palled in contemplating them, even as one who stands on 

 the verge of a tremendous aby.ss whose bottom is lost to 

 his view feels giddy at the contemplation of depths into 

 which he cannot advance even by a single step. — Newcastle 

 Wcelly Chronicle. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF CLOTHING. 



By W. Mattieu Williams. 



III.— THE EEGULATION OF THE TEMPERATURE OP 

 THE BODY. 



AS already stated, the skin not only assists in keeping 

 up the temperature of the body when its surround- 

 ings are below that which is demanded by warm-blooded 

 animals ; but it may, when necessary, also operate in 

 keeping down the bodily temperature when the surrounding 

 heat is excessive. Thus, the skin is a regulator of tem- 

 perature. In this action, as in others, the skin and the 

 lungs CO operate, and, as we shall presently see, clothing 

 may be made to assist. 



Blagden and Sir Joseph Banks exposed themselves to a 

 temperature of 200^ in an oven constructed for the drying 

 of statuary, and their bodies, when thus surrounded, only 

 gained two or three degrees above the normal 98°, instead 

 of obeying the law of equilibrium by acquiring 1G2 addi- 

 tional degrees. M. Chabert, the " Fire King," whose 

 performances at the Argyll Rooms created a great sensation 

 in London, entered an oven heated to above 400°, taking 

 with him a piece of beef, which was cooked while he held 

 it there, showing the wonderful difference between living 

 and dead animal matter. Many supposed him to be an 

 impostor, but this was disproved. He really endured the 

 fiery ordeal, and was enabled to do so by the heat-regulatin" 

 functions of the skin and lungs, which, in his case, were 

 probably exalted either by training or natural constitution. 



I have seen men endure a much higher temperature than 

 this for a short time in the course of " pot setting " in a 

 glass-house. The old crucilile, a huge receptacle for 

 eighteen or twenty hundredweight of melted glass, is in 

 a chamber with glowing, red-hot walls, the crucible itself 

 also red-hot. The men chip this out from its setting, to 

 which it is vitrified, remove it, re make the bed with clay, 

 and then take another bright red crucible from its oven, 

 and erect it firmly on the place of the old one. Any 

 sudden cooling would crack the pot, which is far more 

 sensitive to changes of temperature than the men who 

 handle it. 



I am told that at Mackenzie's Enamel Works, Pimlico, 

 the men work daily at a temperature of 300°. Chantrey's 

 workmen were accustomed to enter the drying-oven when 

 the floor was red-hot and the temperature of the air up to 

 350°. 



Examples of this kind might be multiplied, all showing 

 that, in spite of the fact that a rise of ten or twelve degrees 

 of the temperature of the blood would be fatal, the human 

 body may be immersed in an atmos|)here having a tempera- 

 ture of one or even two hundred degrees above the fatal 

 limit without itself reaching it. In an ordinary Turkish 

 bath anybody in good health may sit without inconvenience, 

 or even with enjoyment, in a chamber where the thermo- 

 meter stands at 212", provided always there is no contact 

 with a conducting substance. I do this frequently. 



These facts are usually explained by the evaporation 



which takes place on the surface of the skin. The millions 

 of sudoriparous ducts pour the secretion of the sweat glands 

 out of the skin-pores, and there the external heat converts 

 the liquid into vapour. In thus converting liquid water into 

 aqueous vapour nearly 1,000° of temperature disappear. 



When heat is doing other work it ceases to manifest 

 itself by rise of temperature ; thus in expanding the water 

 into 1,700 times its bulk of steam, the heat becomes latent 

 as it is called, or more properly speaking, temperature is 

 converted into mechanical work ; the work of expansion 

 and uplifting the air which by its pressure resists such 

 expansion. 



This evaporation of water from the skin plus that from 

 the lungs is accepted by physiologists as a sufficient explana- 

 tion of the near maintenance of the normal temperature of 

 the body under the circumstances described, but I confess 

 that I am unable to accept its sufficiency. Let me be 

 understood, I do not question its efficiency, but do question 

 its siifficienct/. Its cooling action is unquestionable, and is 

 unquestionably great, but is it great enough to explain the 

 phenomena 1 



I was first led to question this on reading certain falla- 

 cious statements that are repeated in all, or nearly all, the 

 text-books on physiology. Thus Dr. Carpenter says, " The 

 means by which the heat of the body is prevented from 

 rising above its normal standard, even in the midst of a 

 very high temperature of the siirrounding air, are of the 

 most simple character. The excreting action of the skin is 

 directly stimulated by the application of warmth to the 

 surface ; and the fluid which is poured forth, being imme- 

 diately vaporised, converts a large quantity of sensible 

 caloric into latent, and thus keeps down the temperature 

 of the skin. By this provision the body may be exposed 

 with impunity to dri/ air of 600° or more, so long as the 

 supply of fluid is maintained. But it cannot long sustain 

 exposure to air saturated with vapour, even though this be 

 not many degrees hotter than the body ; because the 

 cooling action of the skin cannot then be carried on." 



In sujiport of the same the.ses, Dr. A. Combe quotes the 

 following from the Gazette Mklicale, of Paris : — 



A gentleman recently visited the baths of Nero, near Pozznoli, 

 the ancient Posidiana^. To reach the bath, he had to pass along a 

 naiTow winding passage of about 120 yards in length and seven 

 feet high, by about three in breadth. A little within the mouth of 

 the passage the temperature was 104^, in the upper strata of the 

 atmosphere, and 91° near the ground ; farther on, the air was filled 

 with dense vapour, of a temperatare of 118° above and 111° below; 

 and over the bath it was 122', the heat of the spring being 185°. 

 After proceeding for about one-third of the length of the passage, 

 he began to feel a sense of oppression and discomfort, his pnlse 

 rising from 70 to 90 beats in a minute. A short distance farther 

 tlie oppression increased, his breathing became rapid and panting, 

 and he was under the necessity of stooping his head frequently to 

 the earth in order to obtain a chestful of air of a less suffocating 

 temperature. His skin at the time was bathed in profuse perspira- 

 tion, his head throbbing, and his pulse beating 120 in the minute. 

 Continuing his progress, the sensations of suffocation became 

 insupportable; his head felt as though it would burst; his pulse 

 was so rapid as to defy calculation ; he was exhausted and nearly 

 unconscious, and it required all his remaining power to enable him 

 to hurry back to the open .lir. On reaching the mouth of the 

 passage, he staggered and nearly fainted, and was very uncomfort- 

 able until relieved by a bleeding at the nose. During the rest of 

 the day his pulse remained at 100 ; he had uneasy sensations over the 

 surface of the body, and did not recover until after a niglit's repose. 

 The same gentleman bore a temperature of 176° in dry aii- without 

 inconvenience. 



The first part of this story — viz., the description of the 

 long, narrow, descending, steam-filled passage, and the 

 .statement of its temperature, as well as that of the water 

 below, are quite correct, but the latter part concerning 

 the condition of the visitor, is a great exaggeration of the 

 efiect on any man iu average condition. 



