544 
Combating Lousiness 
Ref. 
No. 
Treatment'. (1) wash the head in the ordinary way, (2) rub 
vigorously with a rough towel until partly dry, (3) have the child 
shut the eyes tightly and stoop over basin with hair hanging over 
the forehead, (4) pour the fluid on the head and the lice will fall 
into the basin. Cheaper and as effective as xylol-ether, vide No. 
474 (Allan). 
450. Petroleum, for capitis, corporis and pubis. 
Variously called Paraffin oil in Great Britain, Kerosene in t'he 
United States and Russia, Petrole in France, Naphtha in Poland. 
For capitis, the Health Authorities, Boston, Mass., advise parents 
to procure 8 oz. of crude petroleum, to wet the hair thoroughly for 
3 hrs, then to wash the whole head with warm water and soap, 
repeating the treatment on three successive days. Nits are removed 
with a fine comb with the aid of vinegar, the combing being re¬ 
peated until all are removed (Greene). According to Paul the 
method is convenient as it “instantly” destroys lice (untrue), 
loosens nits and soothes cutaneous irritation (since it removes the 
offending lice no doubt, but it may of itself act as an irritant, 
v. infra). Application to the head by the bonnet method is advo¬ 
cated by Castellani and Chalmers, Ragg, and Filippini, the latter 
stating that this method has been used for soldiers in Italy; it is 
freely applied to the head, which is then enveloped in an air-tight 
covering for some hours, after which the head is washed with soap 
and water; the treatment should be repeated after 24 hrs. Both 
of these methods of applying petroleum are well known in different 
countries and are frequently applied in this country by parents of 
the poorer classes. 
The obj ection to petroleum is its inflammability. Paul states that 
it may be set on fire by sparks from frictional electricity in ckam- 
pooing as explained by Lord Kelvin in connection with a series 
of accidents that occurred some years ago in London champooing es¬ 
tablishments ; to my recollection, however, these accidents followed 
upon the use of petrol. Champooing does not, however, constitute 
a part of the treatment for head-lice. The method is cheap and 
efficacious but the odour is disagreeable until removed by washing. 
For corporis it is stated to be of some use when smeared along the 
seams of clothing (Meltzer) and it has been thus applied at the Suez 
Canal (Dore). It was used as a spray applied to the skin of soldiers 
in Serbia, after a bath, or rubbed on the skin with cloth or cotton 
