Our Form Of Dress

IIow did we come to possess our present forai of dress? This is one of the many quesüons answcrcd bjr a reviewer in the Nature. Clothing at iirst was aïmost entirely ornamental, ïho exceptiona were sueh articles as belts from which instrumenta of various kinds could be suspended so as to be ready for use while the hands were left fice. A gavage does notenjoy the ; ury of a Even at the present day a J apáñese has to sling his tobáceo pipe and poueh from his belt, and the oaly pockets he lias are in his sleeves. Tiie simple cinctnre was the genn, s5 ; to speak, of the elolhing we weár. Aftcr soniü time a bunefa of pandanus slips was mldi'd in front, and tliis was gradualJy extended until it made a complete fring-e around the body. When the arts peqpme s far advauced Ihat man could makc paper cloth or gome wovcn material, tiie.se lattersubslitutcd for the primitivo íltnge, and the kilt was tlms ueveloped. Curiously eniitigh the dress of the Scottisch Highlandera embodica these two stages of progresa in the kilt and the sporan. As man advanced thore were lneonvenienees attendin the use of the kilt, wiiieh j were abated by fastenini; that garment ( at one point between the les, and the lmman mind was then fairíy set uppn j the path to arrivo at the attainment of ; a ]air of tronsers. When the b;u.-k and j shoulders needed protection, the savage j u?ed the skin of soine animal, and it is j from this sort of covering' for the upper ! part of the body that have derived : our coate, yeats, shirts, etc. But the ancient oloak form is even yet retained, imt only by suehpcople as Zula ehiefs, but in all robes of ceremony by dignitaries of COUrt and college of the most liighly civilized nations on the face of the earth. The elabórate and varied head eoverings of the present day all sprang íroin a, very simple, original type_