June 28, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



633 



While it is probably never fatal by its na- 

 ture, through frequent relapses and debilitat- 

 ing effects it may render a certain proportion 

 of men permanently unfit for military service, 

 and the approximate average time lost from 

 this disease is six months. Therefore, in spite 

 of the fact that it is not a fatal disease, from 

 the military point of view it has been a seri- 

 ous one. 



The problem of protecting our men, if pos- 

 sible, from this added suffering, was one of the 

 first questions faced by the American Expedi- 

 tionary Forces. Before any intelligent pro- 

 tective measure could be taken there were two 

 points to be established. First, was this disease 

 caused by germs? Second, if it was a germ 

 disease how was it spread? 



Attempts were made to use animals to es- 

 tablish these points, but no animals susceptible 

 to this disease could be found. Therefore, as 

 was the case of Walter Eeed and his work on 

 yellow fever, it was necessary to resort to vol- 

 unteers from our army, who would be willing 

 to sacrifice themselves that the many might be 

 saved. 



The first question studied was whether this 

 was a germ disease. No germs could be seen 

 with the microscope, but the Medical Depart- 

 ment knew that there are numerous germs 

 which can not be seen by even the most pow- 

 erful magnification. Therefore this point had 

 to be established by taking blood from men 

 with the fever and injecting it into healthy 

 men. Out of 34 such individuals inoculated 

 with blood or some constituent thereof, taken 

 from 7 cases of trench fever, 23 volimteers 

 developed the disease. Out of 16 healthy men 

 inoculated with whole blood from a trench- 

 fever case 15 develoi>ed the disease. These 

 experiments prove that trench fever is a germ 

 disease and that the germs live in the blood 

 of men so infected. 



The next question was " How is this disease 

 sQread ? " Naturally the body louse was to be 

 considered first. Large numbers of these were 

 coUected from patients with trench fever and 

 also some of the same kind were brought from 

 England, which had been collected from 

 healthy men. The lice from trench-fever cases 



were allowed to bite 22 men. Twelve of these 

 later developed the disease, while four men 

 bitten by lice from healthy men remained free 

 from the disease. Eight other volunteers liv- 

 ing under exactly the same conditions, in the 

 same wards, but kept free from lice, did not 

 develop trench fever. After blood inoculation 

 the disease developed in from 5 to 20 days. 

 After being bitten by infected lice the fever 

 re<iuired from 15 to 35 days to develop. 



With these facts in hand, namely, that 

 trench fever is a germ disease and that it is 

 carried by Uce, it is now possible to take up 

 the question of controlling, in an intelligent 

 manner, the disease. As long as the protection 

 of the men from lice was only a matt€r of com- 

 fort and of no military importance, their ex- 

 termination did not warrant extraordinary 

 measures, but now that it is known that it is 

 not simply a matter of discomfort, but that 

 the '■ cootie " (trench vermin) is incidentally 

 one of the largest causes of disability, it is 

 deemed worthy of extraordinary efforts to con- 

 trol these pests. It is a repetition of the ques- 

 tion of mosquito control, yellow fever having 

 been eliminated on the Panama Canal by these 

 means. 



It is no mean thing that these volunteers 

 did in France. To face illness of weeks, with 

 extreme suffering, requires peculiar valor. 

 The average loss of weight for these men was 

 from 20 to 25 pounds. Incidentally the hos- 

 pital in which the experiments were carried 

 out was shelled by the Germans in the early 

 part of their March drive. It is believed by 

 the Army Medical Corps that the sacrifice of 

 this group of 66 men will in time lead to the 

 protection of thousands of men from the rav- 

 ages of trench fever. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 At the commencement exercises of Yale 

 University the degree of doctor of science was 

 conferred on Edward Sylvester Morse, director 

 of the Peabody Museum, and on Dr. Henry 

 Drysdale Dakin, the physiological chemist. 



The honorary degree of A.M. has been con- 

 ferred by Harvard University on Outram 

 Bangs, curator of mammals, Museum of Com- 



