OF IHE HUMAN SKIN. 23 



hair which has come off from the egg in which the 

 insect is curled up. In the other egg on the hair 

 the pedjculus is seen in the process of develop- 

 ment. We now know what a nit is, and how the 

 insect escapes from this" egg. The shell is quite 

 hard, even with difficulty broken between the fin- 

 ger-nails. It entirely escapes long-continued and 

 hard combing, and is not destroyed by ordinary 

 washing with soap and water, or shampooing. 

 This is a point people generally are quite ignorant 

 of, but to be especially remembered. 



The other kind of pediculus which lives se- 

 creted in the folds and seams of the clothes, lays 

 its eggs there. They are seen as minute, round, 

 yellowish-white dots, quite different from the eggs 

 of the other pediculi, and never found sticking 

 to the hairs. 



All these insects are regarded as loathsome, and 

 yet every human being, from the highest to the 

 lowest, is liable to become infested with them, for 

 all classes of the community come in greater or 

 less contact with each other ; and it is by contact, 

 or by clothing, or utensils, that the animals are 

 passed from one to another. We cannot easily 

 avoid them, but we can always readily get rid of 



