"THE DIRTY CUFF."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 311, 25 September 1908, Page 3

"THE DIRTY CUFF."

, The "Lancet" moralises on the question of the "dirty cuff There can (it says) bo no doubt at all that when the cuff picks up, as it is so prone to do, "dirt from tho'counter, desk, or table it picks up also a multitude of micro-organisims._ Dirt so far may be welcomed, inasmuch" as it indicates an insanitary state of affairs. There is, therefore, a very strong scientific argument in favour of the wearing of materials which readily exhibit the signs of soiling. The white dress, the drills, and the ducks must necessarily be cleaned at regular intervals because they look unsightly or are an offence to the eye. The demand of. the eye'thus encourages the preservation of the hygienic state. It is so also with th'e .culf. No man with any respect for himself can wear a dirty cuff, and by keeping his cuffs religiously clean or by changing thorn frequently he is reducing his chances of corning into intimate contact with a collection of bacteriological entities. The adoption of. " dark goods'," or of tho'so materials which do not show dirt, the "Lancet" regards as a "retrograde step." From the ppint of view of hygienic demand the coloured handkerchief, it declares, is ah abomination " when its colour is merely adopted in order to atoid frequent washing." - ■