•237 



great force under which the steam is driven into the van enables it 

 to penetrate even the largest bundles of clothes. (3) The great volume 

 of steam available from the boiler of even a small engine. 



Another important factor is the possible action of the extra heat 

 of condensation of steam, which is set free when the steam, generated 

 in the boiler under a pressure of 4-7 atmospheres, is suddenly reduced 

 to atmospheric pressure on entering the van. This source of additional 

 heat continues throughout the whole period of disinfection, and rapidly 

 penetrates to the centre of even the largest bundles, where a temperature 

 of 215° F. to 220° F. is registered. 



Ark WRIGHT (J. A.), Bacot (A.) & Duncan (F. M.). Preliminary Not© 

 on the Association of Rickettsia Bodies in Lice with Trencli 

 Fever. — Brit. Med. Jl., London, no. 3012, 21st September 1918, 

 pp. 307-309. 



Small bodies resembling diplococci or bipolar bacilli have been 

 described in the blood of patients and in the tick that carries 

 Rocky Mountain spotted fever [Dermacentor vetiustus], in typhus fever 

 and in trench fever, that occurring in connection with typhus fever 

 being named Rickettsia proivazeki. The form found in lice believed to 

 be infected, or in trench fever patients has been called R. pediculi. 



The conclusions reached by these authors are : — (1) The constant 

 presence, after a suitable lapse of time, of these bodies in lice that 

 have been fed on a trench fever patient has been confirmed. (2) The 

 absence of the bodies from lice bred in captivity and fed only on healthy 

 men has been shown in these experiments, in contra-distinction to 

 observations made on the Continent where the population is much 

 more exposed to infection and a clean stock of lice is more difficult 

 to procure than in England. (3) A very close correlation has been 

 shown to exist between the presence of Rickettsia bodies in lice or the 

 excreta of lice, and the virulence of these materials when inoculated 

 into men. 



Bacot (A). The Unreliability of Sulphur for the Destruction of Lice in 

 Clothing.— Bn"«. Med. Jl, London, no. 3017, 26th October 1918, 

 p. 464. 



Experiments undertaken to test the efficiency of the sulphur fumi- 

 gation process as applied in the London Borough casual wards gave 

 somewhat divergent results. The greater success obtained in one 

 trial may have been due to some variation in the heat of the hve coal, 

 causing the sulphur to burn more rapidly, and so producing a higher 

 concentration of gas, quick combustion being possibly more effective 

 than slow combustion continued over a longer period. Previous 

 experiments had shown that in cases where sulphur vapour is effective, 

 a few eggs may hatch at a somewhat later date than those of the 

 control. This may be explained on the supposition that eggs at 

 some stages of development are relatively immune as compared with 

 others. 



Greater rehance may be placed upon heat, half an hour's exposure 

 to a temperature of 131° F. being amply sufficient with either dry 

 or moist heat, provided that the clothing or other articles are suspended, 

 and not left in bundles. 



