THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



501 



gloves white and new. Other men wheel 

 in the tables on which the wounded lie 

 and wheel them away again when the 

 operation is completed. 



The operators go on without pause, 

 never asking after the fate of those who 

 have been operated on, never looking 

 ahead at the line of waiting tables, until 

 exhaustion stops them. 



TRENCH FEVER AND TYPHUS TRACED TO 

 THE LOUSE 



Such a gorge of hurt men is the thought 

 that haunts the waking moments and the 

 dreams at night of every surgeon at the 

 front. 



But such days are rare, while every 

 day the louse must be fought. It carries 

 with it the threat of epidemic. In the 

 eastern field of war the louse is a typhus 

 carrier, and there is no known reason 

 why it shouldn't carry typhus in the west. 



Trench fever has been traced home to 

 it. Until a comparatively short time ago 

 this was a mystery, with its recurrent 

 chills and fever and the semi-paralysis 

 that is an occasional result. 



It is definitely known that a form of 

 itch is to be charged against the louse, 

 and a lowering of morale and a lessen- 

 ing of the power of resistance is cer- 

 tainly produced by it. In some cases 

 men have been rendered so nervous by 

 prolonged exposure to the irritation of 

 the louse that they have been made unfit 

 for duty. 



THE RAT AND PLEA PESTS 



There are other trench pests, of course. 

 Perhaps one hears more of the trench 

 rat, for sufferers from rats are almost 

 morbidly candid in relating their experi- 

 ences. Rats can be disposed of, however. 

 Trenches can be policed into cleanliness 

 and officers can enforce the rules against 

 leaving bits of food about. 



Without food rats cannot exist, and, 

 being highly intelligent animals, they do 

 not attempt life in sterile surroundings. 

 They may be dogged and catted and 

 trapped. At the most, the trench rat is 

 little more than an annoyance. 



He does run over the faces of sleeping 

 men, and they waken their comrades to 

 relate the fact. They discuss the odor of 

 the rat's feet and the uncanny coldness 



of them. He eats leather shoe-strings 

 and bridles and sometimes nibbles on 

 boots. 



The flea is the rat's partner, and bu- 

 bonic and other plagues have been traced 

 to the rat-borne flea. The trench rat 

 habitually grows to an enormous and un- 

 precedented size, so that a cat must have 

 an heroic soul to tackle one of them un- 

 assisted, but I have yet to hear a sub- 

 stantiated story of a man being bitten 

 by a trench rat, unless that rat was 

 cornered. 



Sometimes one encounters a humorist 

 who tells his story : 



"I met a rat one night in the trenches 

 by Zee-bray," said one man. "On the 

 level, he looked bigger than a Great Dane 

 dog. I stood there like a gentleman and 

 waited for him to give me the right of 

 way, but when he didn't, I just took to 

 the parapet and let him go by. Sure, the 

 Germans were shooting, but I didn't care. 

 I'd rather take a chance with a Boche 

 than with a rat." 



THE FEY IS DANGEROUS AT THE FRONT 



There is an odd insect known as the 

 "spring tail" and many sorts of flies. 

 Ordinarily the fly is dangerous at the 

 front in precisely the same manner in 

 which flies are dangerous at home, be- 

 cause he contaminates food. 



There is a biting fly, however, which 

 is especially prevalent in regions where 

 there has been long-continued fighting 

 and where the contending forces have 

 not had an opportunity to clean up the 

 battlefields. A variety of blood-poison- 

 ing has been traced to the bite of this 

 fly. 



But of all the vermin of the trenches, 

 the chief pest is the louse. He is un- 

 escapable and ever present. 



The primary reason is that the men 

 have only intermittent opportunities to 

 clean up. Theoretically, of course, the 

 men of all armies are washed and dried 

 and newly underclothed once a fortnight. 

 Sometimes glad-eyed optimists clean up 

 their men once a week. 



THE LIEE STORY OF" THE LOUSE PAMTLY 



Even if that were possible, the louse 

 would not be disposed of. He would 

 manage to cling in the overlooked fold 



