sage to the brain, so that a habit of over-eating is acquired.
The most important of all rules for the preservation of personal health is that the senses must not be vitiated by neglect of their warnings.
But the chief sensations which concern the subject of dress are those of heat and cold. The sensations of heat are, as a rule, fairly attended to in our climate, which is rarely so warm as to need any very special care, and love of appearance is also a safeguard in this respect; for we do not like to look hot and perspiring, and so take care to keep as cool as possible in warm weather. Sensations of cold, however, are habitually neglected, and I have shown in Chapter IV. how much harm is done by it, in spite of the fact that, owing to the blunting of sensation by habit above alluded to, the cold may not be felt.2[1]
In passing I would point out as an example of that wonderful adaptability of animal nature to its surroundings, the way in which it has been outraged by fashionable Europe for centuries past in the matter of dress. By fashionable Europe I allude primarily to France and England.
That people should have at all survived the sufferings and injuries inflicted upon them by the cruel and fickle goddess Fashion for several centuries past is an astounding proof of the hardiness of the human race, and its power of adapting itself to adverse circumstances.
Nature will adapt herself to objectionable cir-
- ↑ 2 See p. 56.
