ed clothing at the present day has been developed.

Setting aside for the moment the less important, historically, of these,
nearly all of which exist in Western civilization of the present day, it
will be as well to consider that form of dress which is marked by the
greatest evolution. It is generally supposed that man originated in
tropical or subtropical latitudes, and spread gradually towards the
poles. Naturally, as the temperature became lower, a new function was
gradually acquired by his clothing, that of protecting the body of the
wearer. Climate then is one of the forces which play an important part
in the evolution of dress; at the same time care must be taken not to
attribute too much influence to it. It must be remembered that the
Arabs, who inhabit an extremely hot country, are very fully clothed,
while the Fuegians at the extremity of Cape Horn, exposed to all the
rigours of an antarctic climate, have, as sole protection, a skin
attached to the body by cords, so that it can be shifted to either side
according to the direction of the wind.

Dr. C. H. Stratz divides clothing climatically into two classes:
tropical, which is based on the girdle (or, when the attachment is
fastened round the neck, the cloak), and the arctic, based on the
trouser. This classification is ingenious and convenient as far as it
goes, but it seems probable that the trouser, which also has the waist
as its point of attachment, may itself be a further development of the
girdle. Certainly, however, in historical times the division holds good,
and it is worthy of remark that one of the points about the northern
barbarians which struck the ancient Greeks and Romans most forcibly was
the fact that they wore trousers. Amongst the most northerly races the
latter garb is worn by both sexes alike; farther south by the men, the
women retaining the tropical form; farther south still the latter reigns
supreme. No distinct latitude can be assigned as a boundary between the
two forms, from the simple fact that where migration in comparatively
recent times has taken place a natural conservatism has prevented the
more familiar garb from being discarded; at the same time the two forms
can often be seen within the limits of the same country; as, for
instance, in China, where the women of Shanghai commonly wear trousers,
those of Hong-Kong skirts. The retention by women in Europe of the
tropical garb can be explained by the fact that her sphere has bee