INTRODUCTION 



man is obliged thus to wage against the elements, it 

 seems strange indeed that a rational being should 

 voluntarily subject himself to such a conflict. Yet 

 all experience goes to show that strength comes only 

 through exertion; that it is the very opposition of the 

 elements that has developed man's intelligence. To 

 supply the artificial needs which an unnatural envi- 

 ronment has forced upon him, man has taxed his in- 

 genuity; and the result is civilization. 



In the present volume we are concerned primarily 

 with man's struggle with the elements with his at- 

 tempts to protect himself from wind and weather, and 

 to conserve the heat supplied him by the food he eats, 

 and which is essential to his existence. We shall 

 witness man's method of satisfying desires that have 

 grown up in connection with the artificial life of a 

 housed, clothed, comfort-loving resident of uncomfort- 

 able climates. 



We shall have to do with the materials of houses 

 and the methods of house-construction from tent and 

 cabin to the modern skyscraper. 



We shall consider also the materials with which 

 man provides himself with an artificial body-cover- 

 ing; the mechanical devices with which he makes 

 wool and flax and cotton into cloth, and the varying 

 plans he has followed in fitting this clothing about his 

 person in a word, the story of costumes. 



In all phases of this story of man's struggle with the 

 elements we shall be concerned with the practical 

 rather than with the esthetic. The latter, to be sure, 

 cannot be altogether ignored, so closely is the task of 



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