PEDICULUS CAPITIS. 79 



much matted, as is the case especially in tedious illnesses with 

 women who wear long hair, we shall attain our object but slowly, 

 if we do not cut out the hairs beset with nits, or cut off all the 

 hair, as the animals easily escape the comb. The rubbing in of 

 mercurial ointment appears to me unadvisable, as we have milder 

 remedies of more rapid action. The essential oils are worthy of 

 recommendation, as may be seen in the fact, that those who 

 employ strongly scented pomatums to the hair are less exposed 

 to lice and other vermin. But if the lice are present in great 

 numbers, the cure with the "essential oils is often slow. In 

 this case it is most advisable, especially when the patients are 

 lying in bed, to sprinkle the scalp with the Persian insect- 

 powder (Pyrethrum caucaseum) which is now generally kept 

 in the apothecaries' shops. In a few hours after this the 

 itching ceases, because the lice are killed, and sleep, which 

 was often sought in vain by opiates, returns to the unfortunate 

 patient. I remember the case of a consumptive patient of good 

 condition who was near death, and on whom I certainly had no 

 idea of finding lice. They were developed in very great num- 

 bers from the heat of the bed. There was a desire to regard 

 them as Pediculi tabescentium ; but it soon appeared, on closer 

 examination, that the servant who was most engaged about the 

 patient, and who was much infested by lice, was the cause of 

 their production, and the Pediculi tabescentium (from which it 

 appears that people in good circumstances would rather suffer 

 than from the common Pediculus capitis) were ordinary head- 

 lice. Oils employed for several days certainly diminished the 

 number of the lice; but the insect-powder soon killed them. 



The common people formerly made use of the Capuchin powder 

 and similar remedies against lice. The Capuchin powder consists 

 of equal parts Semin. Staphisagr., Sem. Cocculi, Semin. Cataputii 

 (whence, probably, the name). Since an attempt at poisoning 

 was made with the internal administration of this powder it has 

 been forbidden in Saxony, and as Capuchin powder is still 

 constantly required, the apothecaries, instead of it, give any 

 mixture which they consider to be a remedy for lice. In many 

 of these the Pyrethr. caucus, has a part. Amongst us the species 

 of Pyrethrum, even our indigenous species, are gradually becom- 

 ing used for this purpose. 



Besides the head-lice here named, a particular species has been 

 found, according to Pouchet, on African negroes. This I am 



