416 Combating Lousiness 
cases and those refusing treatment; co-operation among teachers and 
pupils; mothers’ meetings; distribution and explanation of circulars of 
information; instruction in personal home hygiene and cleanliness. 
Soldiers. Instructional courses regarding lice have been recom¬ 
mended by various authors who have had experience in the present war. 
Thus Peacock (1916, p. 57) advises the distribution to soldiers of in¬ 
structional leaflets stating how lousiness arises and how it can be 
mitigated. Unquestionably the intelligent soldier will be grateful for 
the opportunity of acquiring any knowledge that will lessen his dis¬ 
comforts and promote his efficiency. 
Prejudice and superstition regarding lice still persist to a considerable 
extent and these cannot be dismissed by ridicule, they can only be com¬ 
bated adequately by persistent educational effort. They are a legacy 
handed down from olden times. Thus Paulus Aegineta and likewise 
Avicenna 1 (a.d. 980-1036) taught that lice are useful in removing 
“peccant humours” from man. In Linnaeus (1767, p. 1016) occurs the 
curious passage in relation to the head-louse: “Roclendo caput exciat 
Achores apud puerulos voraces incarcerates indeque strumosos, sicque 
praeservat a Coryza, Tussi, Caecitate, Epilepsia, etc., instante pluvia 
descendit ad latera capitis 2 .” Knott (1905, pp. 188-195) refers to the 
belief still prevailing in Ireland that head-lice are beneficial and I am 
informed on good authority that a like beliefjiolds in Scotland among 
the lower classes, a hardy louse population on the head being regarded 
as a sign of good health. Knott ( loc. cit .) cites Poignet, the French der¬ 
matologist as stating that the ignorant in France hold a similar belief, 
lice being useful “pour super le mauvais sang” and they should therefore 
not be destroyed; even at the present day there are mothers who place 
lice upon their children’s heads as a protective and curative measure. 
Shipley (1916, p. 16) quotes Dr It. J. Drummond as stating that there 
is a belief among the ignorant that lice are a sign of productivity. 
1 Cited by Knott (1905). This author, moreover (p. 194), records instances of lice being 
used formerly in therapeutics. 
1 find Moffett (ed. 1658, p. 1093) stating that 12 bruised lice in wine cure jaundice as 
“experience proves”; he regarded the appearance of lice on the heads of the sick as 
affording a good prognostic sign, i.e. the disease “flying forth from the centre to the 
circumference.” 
2 I am indebted to my friend Mr V. S. Vernon-Jones, Lecturer in Classics, Magdalene 
College, for the following translation: “By biting into the head produces sores in greedy 
children when they are confined and consequently scrofulous, and so preserves them from 
catarrh, cough, blindness, epilepsy, etc. When rain threatens it descends to the sides of 
the head.” [The last sentence possesses some biological interest, the lice no doubt dislike 
being wetted.] 
