APTERA. 35 
vants consisted in carrying away, and throwing into the sea, whole 
basketfuls of the vermin which were continually escaping from 
the person of their noble master ! 
Little is known at the present day of the details of this 
complaint; though it is observed frequently enough in some parts 
of the south of Europe, where the dirty and miserable inhabitants 
are a prey to poverty and uncleanliness—two misfortunes which 
often go together. In Gallicia, in Poland, in the Asturias, and 
in Spain, we may find many victims of phthiriasis. 
Lice increase with such rapidity on persons thus attacked, that 
it is common to attribute their appearance to spontaneous genera- 
tion alone. But the prodigious suddenness of reproduction in 
these insects sufficiently explains their increase. 
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D2 
