Number of words: 333

Dr Wulsin describes experiments on how clothes hamper the body in keeping itself cool. They act as insulators, checking heat loss by radiation. More important, they create near the skin a layer of heat, soaked through the clothing, and then its cooling effect is largely wasted. Europeans in the tropics  who wear helmets and heavy clothing to keep off the sun make a great mistake. The less they wear, the better off they will be.

The alleged inferiority of hot-country civilization is a myth. The ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamina of the Mayans and Indonesia were not developed under climates cooler than they are today. There has been no significant changes in climate–except in the climate next to the people’s skins.

‘In the old days, people in the tropics wore little clothing, usually nothing above the waist. Now tropical people, of European culture, clinging to European customs, go clothed as if they were dressing for a chilly British spring. The natural result is lassitude and a lowered cultural level.’ The Balinese despite the warm humidity of their climate, have maintained for centuries a vigorous art and culture, partly because they have had the sense not to wear too much. Today, under the influence of an imported Puritanism, they are being forced to cover themselves and are in danger of  falling into lassitude and decay.

Equally, scientific observers point out that clothing is not necessary as a defence against the cold. The insular group known as Tierra del Fuego, at the southern extremity of South America, is afflicted by a bitterly cold and raw climate. Yet the majority of the inhabitants go naked or almost naked, and are impervious to cold. Some of the NEFA tribes which are most indifferent to clothes live on the tops of hills. The human body is admirably adjusted, in its natural state, to varying climates. Once, however, it takes to clothes, it needs more and more of them.

Excerpted from”page number 135, of A philosophy for NEFA”