25 



army. The observations were conducted on 51 inmates of night- 

 shelters who had been admitted to hospital, the nature of their illness 

 not requiring their transference to special wards. In order that the 

 conditions should approach as closely as possible to those in the 

 trenches, the patients did not have baths and remained in their clothes. 

 Simultaneously with these observations, experiments were carried out 

 in vitro at the Bacteriological Station and the municipal disinfecting 

 chamber. The lice were kept in open glasses with a flat bottom, at 

 room temperature, and balls of cotton-wool, moistened with 15 drops> 

 of ether, oils of anise, caraway, eucalyptus, cinnamon, wormwood, 

 fennel, bergamot, lavender, petroleum or turpentine, were suspended at a 

 distance of 4 inches from the bottom of the glass ; all the insects perished 

 after 24 hours, those in the control glasses living 3 or 4 days. Wormwood 

 powder gave no results ; insect powder from fresh Dalmatian 

 pyrethrum stupefied the lice in 2 or 3 minutes and killed them within 

 24 hours. Flowers of sulphur, precipitated sulphur, calomel and a 

 mixture of tartaric acid and sodium hyposulphite gave negative results. 

 Small gauze bags containing camphor suspended in the glasses stupefied 

 the lice in 2 or 3 hours and caused death after 2 days ; bags containing 

 naphthaline destroyed all the lice in 1| hours. Experiments with the 

 same substances on the patients showed that ethereal oils mixed in 

 equal proportions with cotton-seed oil rubbed on the body and applied 

 to the folds and seams of the clothes had no effect. Eucalyptus oil 

 stupefied the parasites for an hour or two, after which they recovered ; 

 petroleum and turpentine with 50 per cent, of creoline or xylol mixed 

 with cotton-seed oil were ineffective ; slight results were obtained 

 with sabadilla decoction, consisting of sabadilla vinegar with 10 per 

 cent, of balsam of Peru ; 15 to 20 per cent, mercury ointment combined 

 with naphthaline was effective, but three applications of this gave 

 rise to dermatitis. Small bags of camphor worn underneath the shirt 

 gave slight results ; those containing naphthaline proved effective, 

 but require to be renewed every 3 days. 



It was concluded that none of the substances tested can be 

 considered completely effective under the conditions of active service, 

 the best of them being naphthaline. Heating and boihng the clothing 

 still remain the only really effective remedies. 



,,n0X0flHafl iwasb" pa 6opb6bl Cb HactKOMblMM. ['Campaign- 

 jelly " for the control of insect parasites of man.] — « CaflOBOH'b.» 

 [The Horticulturist], Rostov-on-Don, no. 11, November 1915, 

 p. 854. 



This jelly, which is recommended by Mr. V. S. Pirnsky against 

 lice, etc., consists of : 15 per cent, soft soap, 10 per cent, solution of 

 corrosive sublimate, 34 per cent, of beef fat, 34 per cent, of lard and 

 7 per cent, of birch tar. 



Creel (R. H.). Hydrocyanic acid gas; its practical use as a routine 

 fumigant. — U.S. Public Health Reports, Washington, D.C., xxx, 

 no. 49, 3rd December 1915, pp. 3537-3550, 1 fig. 



Hydrocyanic acid gas is more penetrating and more toxic than 

 sulphur dioxide or carbon monoxide. It is easily and quickly generated, 

 requires little apparatus, is not destructive to inanimate objects and 



