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PREFACE 



THIS book is intended for the general reader 

 rather than for the specialist, and its chief purpose 

 is to introduce the main facts concerning the lice 

 of man which have been brought to light in the 

 last few years. It is somewhat amazing that, 

 though the louse lives in a closer association with 

 man than any other insect does, it should still 

 be the subject of so much erroneous information. 

 Even those who should have been best informed 

 knew little of its detailed habits, when the hard- 

 ships of war made it so necessary that means 

 should be devised for combating it. To-day we 

 are in a much better position to deal with it than 

 we were four years ago, and this is owing to the 

 closer attention which scientists have bestowed 

 upon it, often at great personal discomfort. In 

 this country its habits have been especially 

 studied by Professor G. H. F. Nuttall, of Cam- 

 bridge, and Mr. A. Bacot, of the Lister Institute 

 of Preventive Medicine, while in France Captain 

 A. D. Peacock, R.A.M.C., gave us much exact 

 information of its mode of spread among troops 

 in the field. These three workers also, with 



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