CHAPTER V 



DISINFESTATION 



BY disinfestation is meant the freeing of the body 

 and clothing of lice and their eggs or nits. This 

 may be done in a variety of ways. 



Hand-picking. The most natural, and inci- 

 dentally the least effective, method to adopt is 

 the mechanical one of removing the lice by means 

 of the fingers. The word " lousing " was used by 

 old English writers to denote this process, when, 

 as to-day, lice were so common as to be a matter 

 of interest to every one, and now that they may 

 again be mentioned without bating the breath 

 the somewhat disgusting word has been revived. 

 This is the method adopted by monkeys, which 

 may be constantly seen searching in one another's 

 hair and devouring all the vermin they find. 

 Primitive peoples often do the same thing, even 

 to the eating, with apparent pleasure, of the lice 

 removed. More civilised folks have neither the 

 time nor the patience to practise this hand- 

 picking with any thoroughness, and very good 

 eyesight is required to detect the young lice and 

 every nit. Moreover, many of the nits and even 



