Nor may the mischief end here; for, if inclined to have consumption, the tubercle, as it is called, will now be deposited in the lung surface or tissue. Why? Because, the veins being congested and enlarged, the flow through them is more sluggish. I do hope I’m making myself understood! The flow, I say, is more sluggish, and deleterious matter, that otherwise would have been washed or carried away in the secretions, gets time and opportunity to settle. Now do you understand how a chill from a draught or from damp clothing may cause mischief of even a fatal character? Will you take my advice, and wear judicious clothing, or will you wait till the mischief is done, and then say, “I wish I had”? Mind, I do not wish you to go about, even during the cold months of winter, swaddled with as much clothing as a mummy, but I do wish you to wear woollen clothing—next the skin, at all events. Age has nothing at all to do with it. The young are even more apt to catch deadly colds than the older or middle-aged. I often wish there was some woollen material manufactured in this country—thin, warm, and soft, with a smooth surface that would render it perfectly suitable for underclothing for the most delicate-skinned girl. Flannel, such as is sold in the shops, has its good points, but it really has many objectionable ones. I hear new flannel extolled. I may be fastidious, but I really do not care for its perfume. Then there are your woollen jerseys, or whatever you call them, and merino ditto. Why, they are so rough, I, myself, would rather fall back upon silk. [Illustration: “I WISH I HAD BEEN MORE CAREFUL.”] In Germany, I believe, they have a material that is eminently suitable for the purpose I am advocating. There is a chance for some manufacturer to come to the front. Meanwhile, our girls will go on wearing linen and catching colds; and I do assure my readers that they would be both astonished and shocked were I to tell them the average number of fatal illnesses brought on annually in England from neglect of proper precautions for the preservation of health. But if winter hath its dangers from cold, and wet, and frost, neither is summer exempt. Would I have girls wear wool in summer? Undoubtedly. Wool is not only a protection against cold, but against intense heat as well. It is a go-between, so to speak. We all know that thatched houses are warm in winter and cool in summer, but possibly the words of Stanley, the great African traveller, may be new to many, although the truth they contain rests upon the same natural basis as that about thatched houses. I cannot give the exact words of this truly great man, but they are to this effect:— “The only way a European can withstand the intense heat of tropical Africa is by wearing garments of wool.”