DISINFECTION STATIONS 403 



October, 1915, there were eight of these on the Polish front, 

 and more were being built. Through these stations men are 

 passed as clothes might be passed through a laundry. Enter- 

 ing at the " unclean side," dirty, lousy and unhygienic, they 

 emerge from the " clean side " fresh, clean and free from ver- 

 min. Each institution consists of eight separate buildings, 

 grouped around a central power house in which 200 tons of coal 

 are burned daily to supply steam for disinfection, light, power, 

 etc. Laundries, kitchens and administrative quarters are also 

 provided. Each of the eight buildings consists of a clean and 

 an unclean part, with a chief surgeon in charge, and each has a 

 capacity of 500 men every eight hours, a total of 12,000 per 24 

 hours for the entire institution. At the entrance on the unclean 

 side each man receives a net for whatever apparel he may have, 

 such as boots, helmets, etc., which must be sterilized by dry heat, 

 and a smaller net to receive his valuables, such as notebooks, 

 tobacco, etc. A check number is hung about his neck, and a 

 similar number placed on his belongings. He is now given a 

 pair of slippers, and enters a large waiting room where he disrobes, 

 placing his clothes in another net which has been given him, to 

 be sterilized by steam. If in need of it he is given a hair-cut and 

 is then subjected to a fifteen minute shower bath with soap, after 

 which he is presented with a towel, clean slippers and clean under- 

 wear. He is then allowed to pass to the clean side of the build- 

 ing where he is given his own disinfected clothing, given a meal 

 and conducted to disinfected railroad coaches. The greatest 

 disadvantage is the non-cooperation of Russian prisoners, who 

 by all sorts of subterfuges try to avoid being " laundered." 

 However, Germany has, by this method, practically converted 

 her whole eastern front into a huge filter to guard against lice 

 and lice-borne diseases. Without such radical measures Ger- 

 many could never have kept herself as free as she has from the 

 diseases of war. 



