COLOURED UNDERWEAR FOR SUMMER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14472, 12 September 1910, Page 4

COLOURED UNDERWEAR FOR SUMMER.

Coloured underwear for hot, sunny climates is advocated in a leading editorial by American Medicine. When it was first suggested, says this paper, that skins were pigmented to exclude too much light, physicians were sceptical, preferring to consider nature a fool to create coloured races in light countries. The light theory that was. utterly rejected by Americans has since, been accepted by the French and British, however, who are now taking steps in-the tropics to give themselves the same protection by coloured underclot«fng that nature gives to the natives by coloured skins—another of the innumerable instances where an American idea must go to Europe for acceptance. The writer continues:—"Now that the subject is considered settled abroad, we are tardily taking it up. In an article in The Medical Press of Juno 2, 1909, Doctors Phalen and Nichols describe the experiments now being made to find out whether it will do any good to protect our soldiers from tropical- 1 light by opaque underclothing, and they make the astounding assertion that they are personally in ' the strict agnostic mo6d.' So there are still some who think that the pigment of the Filipinos is merely ' a ,useless freak of silly nature. This is depressing, yet it shows the proverbial . difficulty with which a new idea attains recognition. Opaque clothing is becoming popularised and it is interesting to note that the instinctive demand for it, not . only in the tropics but in America also, is so great that manufacturers are hooding the market with enormous quantities of black undergarments.' Lay experience already shows it to be comfprtable and beneficial. It is, of course, wholly unnecessary in such cloudy places as' Northern Europe, nor do the swarthy Italians need it, but blonde migrant types must -use it when residing in light countries where the native is pigmented. It is considered well worth a trial in this latitude, for it has been known to present those nervous conditions so common in the light season. That is, it begins to look as though the lay public will lead and the medical profession follow. It might be well to direct attention to the need of better head covering if one is exposed to the sun. All tropical natives use elaborate head-dresses for this purpose, and it is noticed that our own outdoor workmen have an instinctive desire for black felt, hats. Agricultural labourers in our South, and Mexicans also, use opaque hats to a large extent, and prefer those with the wide brims. - The dinky little straw hats with naiTow brims affected by city dwel- : lers afford no protection at all in the sun, and may be the cause of much suffering, as well as. actual sickness it the wearers do not remain constantly in the shade. There is need of a great deal, more knowledge of summer hygiene in order to combat the fashions of our cities, which are much nearer the tropics than we realise."