46 
Lice and Disease 
countries and “isolated” not from each other but from the Germans, 
severe epidemics broke out amongst them. The disease nevertheless 
occurred among the civil population, but we do not know to what 
extent. Low (1916, p. 57) has compiled a list of six towns, beginning 
with Berlin, in which typhus occurred in 1915, besides which epidemics 
occurred in prisoners’ camps in 16 districts; he names 10 camps in which 
British soldiers were confined and where typhus broke out. It is doubt¬ 
ful if statistics relating to these outbreaks among prisoners will ever 
be made available in the future. In Serbia, the deaths from typhus 
were reckoned at 500 a day in February 1915. 
2. The Epidemiology of Typhus. Earlier Observations. 
Before describing more recent researches into the etiology of typhus 
fever, it is necessary to dwell briefly upon some of the evidence that 
was gathered by earlier investigators concerning the epidemiology of 
the disease, especially as much of the evidence applies equally to 
relapsing fever (see Section II). 
The older authors all lay stress upon the occurrence of typhus epi¬ 
demics in times of calamity, during periods of famine when the crops 
failed, whilst war raged, or when there were commercial crises leading 
to general impoverishment. The influence of filth and overcrowd¬ 
ing, and unhygienic conditions generally, were recognized as potent 
factors in the epidemiology of typhus. Many records relate to out¬ 
breaks of typhus in crowded or ill-ventilated workmen’s quarters, in 
overfilled prisons and poor-houses, on shipboard, in armies in the field, 
but especially among the besieged and besiegers. The seasonal inci¬ 
dence during winter (November to April) was attributed to overcrowding 
indoors during this season. 
A suggestive observation, in the light of our present knowledge, 
is recorded by Bernhardi 1 who states that the prevalence of louse 
infestation was observed in the 11th centunj in connection with typhus 
and relapsing fever. Moreover, Low (1916, p. 61), writing of typhus 
in Hungary, mentions that “at the beginning of the 17th century, 
Tobias Coberus expressed his belief that the louse had a psychic effect 
upon the human subject; he therefore recommended garlic applied as 
a prophylactic against war-typhus’’...“which he seems to have asso- 
1 Cited by Landois (18656, pp. 499-503) from Hecker’s Kunst die Krankheiten des 
Menschen zu heilen, 5th ed., ii. 671. [I have been unable to gain access to this work. 
Hecker was born in 1763 and died in 1811; the 2nd ed. of the work appeared in 1805.] 
