TYPHUS FEVER 118 



than in the summer, when they spent the night 

 out of doors. 



Why armies in the field should have suffered 

 so terribly from louse-borne diseases is obvious, 

 for always the facilities for cleanliness to which 

 the civilian is accustomed are lacking, and under 

 most conditions the troops are congested. Often 

 too, one may say always before the present war, 

 hospital accommodation has been inadequate, 

 sick and wounded have been crowded together 

 in the same waggons, have lain close together 

 in the same tents, often clothed still in the gar- 

 ments in which they fought. Dying in these 

 conditions, they were often not moved for hours, 

 and by this time the lice of the dead would have 

 spread themselves over the living. The great 

 epidemics of typhus and relapsing fever in Europe, 

 when whole communities have been decimated, 

 have generally been the sequel or the accompani- 

 ment of either famine or war. Before our fuller 

 knowledge of the mode of spread of these diseases 

 this was thought to be due to the reduced vitality 

 of the population, but this is only partly the case. 

 It is due to an increase in lice. When the general 

 commodities of life become scarce and their 

 prices rise, the poorer part of the population have 

 money for only one thing food ! Clothing gets 

 worn out and cannot be replaced ; one garment 

 goes to patch another until the unfortunates are 

 left with a single outfit of rags, filthy because 

 soap cannot be obtained. Inevitably they be- 



