EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
745 
The Turkish bath is said, by Mr. Erasmus Wilson, to have 
the property of hardening and fortifying the skin, so as to 
render it almost unsusceptible of the influence of cold. The 
feeling, he states, after quitting the ^ Calidanium,^ is one of 
the defiance of cold; the bather has a longing for the cool 
air of the outer world, and with no other covering than his 
cotton mantle, a lawn or a terrace would be his chosen 
resort, if the opportunity were within his reach. In the 
hands of Mr. Urquhart, the bath has presented us with 
one remarkable instance of the power of endurance of the 
skin as developed by its aid. An athletic child, of five years 
old, had been brought up in the bath, and never worn other 
clothes than a loose linen garment. It is stated he was a 
fine sturdy fellow, with the independence and deportment of 
an Indian, and the symmetry of an Apollo. He was met 
one wintry day, when the snow was on the ground, Avalking 
in the garden, perfectly naked. Do you feel cold ? in¬ 
quired his interlocutor. ^‘Cold!^^ said the boy, touching 
his skin doubtfully with his finger, “yes, I think I do feel 
cold.^^ That is, he felt cold to his outward touch, but not 
to his inward sensations, and it required that he should 
pass his finger over the surface of his body as he would 
have done over a marble statue to be sure, not that he was 
cold, for that he was not, but to be convinced that his 
surface felt cold. 
That the skin of man can support the temperature of a 
climate such as that of Britain, when trained to it from the 
cradle, is perfectly clear; our forefathers, the ancient 
Britons, wore no clothes. The Roman invaders of Britain 
tell us of the “ naked savages of Scotland.'’^ The in¬ 
habitants of the Tierra del Euego, at Cape Horn, a country 
colder than Britain, have no other clothing than a hide 
which they hang on their windward shoulder; and. their 
children may be seen, perfectly naked, gambolling on the 
sea-shore, and scrambling in the bottoms of the boats that 
come off to the passing ships. The mother of the little 
Apollo I have alread}'^ described called the attention of a 
friend to the warmth of her infanCs feet, and with the 
remark, “ While my old nurse was with me, the child^s feet 
XXXVI. 49 
