Page:Motors and motor-driving (1902).djvu/103

Rh the moisture of the body may evaporate. A suit of cloth lined with punctured chamois leather will be found agreeable for both winter and summer. As most men like their clothes to be so fashioned that there may be nothing remarkable about them if they call on a friend, I find that men frequently have their motor suits cut in the ordinary way, Norfolk jacket or short coat with trousers or breeches and stockings; but the coats have one unnoticeable but very important provision, viz. they are so made as to button tightly round the wrist. Unless this precaution is taken it will be found that the cold air will blow up the sleeves, with the result that the hands, arms, and even body generally, will be made very cold. If the automobilist does not use a thick rug to protect his legs, gaiters should be worn with knickerbockers, and, if trousers are worn, they should be bound tightly round the ankles when driving. As regards underclothing it should be borne in mind that silk is perhaps the best material for retaining the warmth of the body.

We have next to consider the matter of overcoats. On the Continent a coat made of rough fur is worn, with the fur outside. It is found that, in addition to the heat-retaining qualities of the fur, such coats have the advantage of readily shooting off rain and of drying very quickly after a shower. They are provided with very high collars, which in cold weather are turned up, and almost surround the head. These coats have been a source of very considerable amusement to onlookers and small boys in England, and it is a question whether they will be generally adopted; Englishmen appear to prefer a coat of Melton cloth lined with fur inside and fitted with a high fur-lined collar. Probably this garment fulfils all the purposes of the coat in which the fur is worn outside, and at the same time is less conspicuous. Moreover, it is held that the fur being interposed between the ordinary coat and the great-coat, permits of a certain amount of healthy ventilation.

In the summer, when the weather is very hot, provided that a thick suit of clothes be worn, a great-coat is sometimes unnecessary, except as a protection from dust. A light