DISSEMINATION OF BODY-LOUSE 41 



in cold, or only warm, soapy water does them 

 no harm unless the immersion is very prolonged. 

 Garments reputedly clean from dirt may there- 

 fore harbour vermin and commence infestation 

 in one who assumes them. 



Lousiness. If garments containing lice are 

 worn continually day and night the vermin in- 

 crease and multiply in a remarkable manner. 

 Cases are on record where single garments have 

 held thousands. These are unusual cases and 

 indicate, in the infested person, either extreme 

 helplessness or, what is more likely, utter in- 

 difference to the filthy condition. In attempting 

 to arrive at an average estimate of lousiness in 

 troops Peacock (1) excluded these extreme cases. 

 He found that where 95 per cent of the men had 

 lice upon them the average number was twenty 

 lice a man, the range being from ten to thirty. 

 In another series of men he found about 3 per 

 cent with more than 350 lice each, while one 

 shirt he examined was estimated to contain 

 10,428 lice and 10,253 eggs. 



It has been already stated that lice tend to 

 bite more especially in the regions of the body 

 against which the clothing presses. When not 

 feeding they congregate, especially along the 

 seams and in folds of the clothing. They are 

 markedly gregarious in their habits, being often 

 seen in masses and giving rise to the soldier's 

 term of " lousy lice," that is lice with lice upon 

 them. They and their eggs may be found on 



