54 
Lice and Disease 
These results are similar to those obtained with plague and fleas, 
where infection may be caused through the bites of insects or through 
their dejecta, the act of scratching by the subject bitten affording a 
means of entry of the virus into the system. 
Contrary to Wilder (1911), and Sergent, Foley and Vialatte (1914), 
and in agreement with Anderson and Goldberger (1912), Nicolle and his 
colleagues (1914) find that there is no proof of hereditary transmission 
of typhus virus in lice, they consider that such transmission is improb¬ 
able on epidemiological grounds 1 . I cannot see why, on epidemiological 
grounds, hereditary transmission of the virus should be improbable, 
for in relapsing fever whose epidemiology is similar to typhus, the 
spirochaetes are transmitted hereditarily. 
6. Some Confirmatory Experiences in Practice. 
Ussher (19. ix. 1914, pp. 509-510), who observed an extensive 
typhus epidemic in Van, Turkey, gives a short but interesting account 
of his experiences under difficult circumstances. He was the first to 
recognize the nature of the malady which caused the death of 2,500 
soldiers. Although the preventive measures he instituted were some¬ 
what primitive, no cases occurred in the hospital when precautions 
were taken to exclude lice. When this was done, the typhus cases 
could be placed in beds beside other patients with impunity. As soon 
as it was possible to do so, both infected clothing and bedding were 
boiled to destroy the lice they might harbour. 
According to an abstract of their paper, Klemperer and Zinn (ii. 
1915, p. 325) describe the case of Dr Jochmann who died of typhus 
contracted in attendance on typhus patients. He died on the 11th 
day after an incubation period of 10 days. Jochmann was convinced 
that typhus is only conveyed by lice, and, in a book he published 
(no reference) he cites cases, as do also Klemperer and Zinn, to prove 
that louse-free patients are not a source of danger. Jochmann had 
ten people about him when he was ill, including his wife and children, 
but none caught typhus. Uhlenhuth (9. v. 1915, p. 531) shares the 
opinion of Jochmann and cites Jurgens and Gottschlich (1915, Med. 
Klinih, No. 13) in confirmation. 
Kirchner, the Chief of the Imperial Bureau of Health of the German 
Empire, is cited in a German Editorial (28. n. 1915, p. 263) as having 
1 The authors had previously laid stress on the similarity in the epidemiology of typhus 
and relapsing fever (v. infra p. 61). 
