G. H. F. Nuttall 
55 
presented a report on typhus to the House of Representatives in Berlin. 
He stated that typhus was more prevalent in Russia than in Germany 
into which it was introduced by Russian prisoners. Typhus was 
checked by the isolation of these prisoners (perhaps by the Wittenberg 
method!). An investigation conducted at the instance of the Govern¬ 
ment, confirmed the view that typhus is “almost” exclusively conveyed 
by lice. 
The Professor of Hygiene at Berlin, Fliigge (9. v. 1915, p. 531) 
reports that experience covering several months in German prison 
camps, confirms the belief that typhus is solely conveyed by lice. 
Boral (17. vi. 1915, p. 641) concludes from epidemiological obser¬ 
vations upon Austrian troops, that man is not infective for lice during 
the incubative period of typhus, and that in the absence of lice the 
disease is not conveyed from man to man at any stage of its 
evolution. 
Blumberg (vn. 1915, p. 837) observed a large epidemic among 
prisoners of war at Brandenburg, lice having been brought to the camp 
by Russians nearly all of whom were verminous. 
Neukirch and Zlocisti (5. in. 1916, p. 259) record their experiences 
with typhus in Anatolia. They state that fleas abounded so that 
everybody was bitten by them, nevertheless very few of those who 
attended upon typhus cases acquired the disease. Bugs ( Cimex) 
could also be excluded as carriers, for they swarmed in a typhus ward 
whence the patients had to be cleared for the reception of wounded; 
none of the latter caught typhus. All of the Turks, who suffered from 
typhus, were verminous. 
Delearde and d’Halluin (20. iv. 1916, pp. 310-320), ex-prisoners of 
war in Germany, report upon their experiences with typhus in the 
camps at Langensalza, Saxony, and at Niederzwehren, near Cassel. 
Russian and French prisoners, numbering 20,000, were intermingled in 
these two camps. The authors observed 2,000 cases of typhus, and 
estimate that the number totalled 5,000. Of 7,131 French prisoners, 
987 died of typhus; they were all verminous. The authors believe that 
lice play the chief part in the spread of typhus 1 . 
1 The authors think, however, that typhus may also be conveyed, although to a 
lesser degree, by coughing, and, in support of their contention, cite the case of a physician 
who caught typhus although no lice were found on him ; a typhus patient had previously 
coughed in his face. They mention plague as possibly a parallel instance, where we 
know that infection may be conveyed by ectoparasites (fleas) and also by the inhalation 
of plague bacilli from sputum sprayed into the atmosphere in droplet form. The authors 
do not take into account that the small larval stages of lice may well escape notice. That 
