180 Count Rumford’s Enquiry concerning the Nature of Heat, 
It has been shown, that the warmth of clothing depends much 
on the polish of the surface of the substance of which it is made ; 
and hence we may conclude that, in choosing the colour of our 
winter garments, those dyes should be avoided which tend most 
to destroy that polish : and, as a white surface reflects more 
light than an equal surface, equally polished, of any other 
colour, there is much reason to think that white garments are 
warmer than any other, in cold weather. They are universally 
considered as the coolest that can be worn, in very hot weather, 
and especially when a person is exposed to the direct rays 
of the sun; and, if they are well calculated to reflect calo- 
rific rays in summer, they must be equally well calculated to 
reflect those frigorific rays by which we are cooled and annoyed 
in winter. 
I have found, by direct and decisive experiments, (of which 
an account will hereafter be given to this Society,) that garments 
of fur are much warmer, in cold weather, when worn with the 
fur or hair outwards, than when it is turned inwards. Is not 
this a proof that we are kept warm by our clothing, not so much 
by confining our heat, as by keeping off those frigorific rays 
which tend to cool us ? 
The fine fur of beasts, being a highly polished substance, is 
well calculated to reflect those rays which fall on it; and, 
if the body were kept warm by the rays which proceed from 
it being reflected back upon it, there is reason to think, that 
a fur garment would be warmest when worn with the hair in- 
wards ; but, if it be by reflecting and turning away the frigorific 
rays from external (colder) bodies, that we are kept warm 
by our clothes in cold weather, we might naturally expect, that 
