To explain the difference in the position of the buttons is not by any
means easy. In the correspondence which has arisen out of lectures which
the writer has given on the evolution of dress, it has, in the first
place, been suggested that the arrangement of his clothing permitted a
man to thrust his right and fighting arm into his jacket in order to
keep it warm. This explanation, of course, does not account for the
variation in the case of women.
Dr. Lyman, of Baltimore, has submitted the theory that a man wearing
a loose cloak, toga, or plaid, would grasp it with the left hand and
thrust the left side over the right so as to leave the right-hand free
in order to hold a weapon or implement.
