8 ANIMAI, PARASITES 



classes a lack of knowledge of their nature, and 

 the means to avoid or get rid of them. The 

 mental agony of a young lady on finding her 

 auburn tresses the home of the only too common 

 insect, can only be appreciated by those who have 

 realized it. We have known the most refined to 

 suflfer thus for months, merely from shame to 

 apply to a physician, or ignorance of the very 

 simple means necessary to be freed from what 

 is naturally regarded as so loathsome. Where 

 soap and water are attainable, man can keep his 

 body clear of these animals. If every teacher in 

 the public schools could be authorized to send a 

 child so infested home, and at the same time knew 

 enough to direct the mother or family what to do 

 to relieve the child of its trouble, it would at 

 least be a comfort to those physicians who, in at- 

 tendance at the great charitable institutions, come 

 necessarily in immediate contact with the thou- 

 sands of poor people and their little ones, whom 

 sickness and misery are constantly sending there. 

 The animal parasites are the pest of the public 

 schools. Neglect and ignorance alone foster their 

 presence. By explaining the natural history, the 

 habits, habitats, methods of propagating, and 



