Pediculus Humanus 83 



odor. Various low plants may grow in the trichoma, the whole 

 being known as plica palonica." — Stiles. 



Sources of infestation are various. School children may obtain 

 the lice from seatmates, by wearing the hats or caps of infested mates, 

 or by the use, in common, of brushes and combs. They may be 

 obtained from infested beds or sleeper berths. Stiles reports an in- 

 stance in which a large number of girls in a fashionable boarding 

 school developed lousiness a short time after traveling in a sleeping 

 car. 



Treatment is simple, for the parasites may readily be controlled 

 by cleanliness and washing the head with a two per cent solution of 

 carbolic acid or even kerosene. The latter is better used mixed with 

 equal parts of olive oil, to avoid irritation. The treatment should 

 be applied at night and followed the next morning by a shampoo with 

 soap and warm water. It is necessary to repeat the operation in a 

 few days. Xylol, used pure, or with the addition of five per cent 

 of vaseline, is also very efficacious. Of course, the patient must be 

 cautioned to stay away from a lighted lamp or fire while using either 

 the kerosene or xylol. While these treatments will kill the eggs or 

 nits, they will not remove them from the hairs. Pusey recommends 

 repeated washings with vinegar or 2 5 per cent of acetic acid in water, 

 for the purpose of loosening and removing the nits. 



Treatment of severe infestations in females is often troublesome 

 on accotmt of long hair. For such cases the following method recom- 

 mended by Whitfield (19 12) is especially applicable: 



The patient is laid on her back on the bed with her head over the 

 edge, and beneath the head is placed a basin on a chair so that the 

 hair lies in the basin. A solution of i in 40 carbolic acid is then poured 

 over the hair into the basin and sluiced backwards and forwards 

 until the whole of the hair is thoroughly soaked with it. It is especi- 

 ally necessary that care should be taken to secure thorough satura- 

 tion of the hair over the ears and at the nape of the neck, since these 

 parts are not only the sites of predilection of the parasites but they 

 are apt to escape the solution. This sluicing is carried out for ten 

 minutes by the clock. At the end of ten minutes the hair is lifted 

 from the basin and allowed to drain, but is not dried or even tho- 

 roughly wrung out. The whole head is then swathed with a thick 

 towel or better, a large piece of common house flannel, which is 

 fastened up to form a sort of turban, and is allowed to remain thus 

 for an hoiu". It can then be washed or simply allowed to dry, as the 



