46 LICE AND THEIR MENACE TO MAN 



by these means, owing, once more, to those em- 

 bedded in the seams, which often cannot be 

 reached by sufficient heat to destroy them without 

 damaging the fabric thereby. The soldier in the 

 field will often take off his shirt and pass the 

 lighted end of a cigarette over the lice and eggs 

 where they most thickly congregate, killing all 

 that are touched. This is the method of despair, 

 but unfortunately in the past has often been the 

 only one available. 



Dry Storage. Clothing may be freed of lice by 

 the slow method of storing it in a dry atmosphere 

 until all are dead. The warmer and drier the air 

 the more quickly will this be accomplished. As 

 indicated previously, the eggs of lice will not hatch 

 if the temperature at which they are kept is 

 below 72 F. The object of this storing should 

 be to make the eggs hatch quickly or else dry up 

 and die. Whatever the temperature the lice will 

 all be dead at the end of ten days, but if the air 

 is moist, eggs might still be alive at the end of this 

 period and lice might emerge from them if the 

 garments were then worn again. Nuttall(l) ad- 

 vises that clothing so stored in a dry atmosphere 

 should be left for at least two to three weeks, 

 and may then be considered quite safe. 



Heat. The most practical method of freeing 

 clothing from lice in all stages is by means of heat. 

 In the Army the idea has become prevalent that 

 it is a very difficult matter to kill lice by this 

 mean's. A man may say that he bolted his shirt 



