562 
Combating Lousiness 
Among a soldier’s personal belongings are various objects which may 
have to be sorted into two classes at or before entering: (a) clean objects, 
and ( b ) infested or possibly infested articles; these objects (a and b) are 
placed in boxes or bags and numbered in accordance with the disc handed 
to the soldier. The clean objects (a) may be subsequently passed through 
a partition to the clean side of the office for delivery to the soldier when 
he leaves the station. 
The unclean objects ( b ) may include the soldier’s pocket book, 
scapulary (if Roman Catholic), identification disc (the string at times 
infested), amulets (a great variety of these are worn and may consist of 
cloth, hair, wool, etc.) and, most important, underwear which is the 
soldier’s personal property. These unclean objects require to be dis¬ 
infested although the men may be loth to part with them, largely from 
fear that they may be lost; the receipt discs, handed to them at the office, 
should serve to quiet their apprehensions. The objects may be loaded 
into special wire cages, locked if need be, which are run down a small 
inclined chute to the compartment adjoining the disinfestor on the 
unclean side. 
Having relieved themselves of their personal belongings and received 
their numbered discs the men proceed to 
(3) The undressing room. This is provided with benches running 
across the room, the seats being numbered in accordance with the men’s 
discs. A W.C. is annexed to this room. The clothes, especially when 
heavily infested, should be handled as little as possible, because lice are 
liable to drop from them; they may be tied in bundles or placed in bags 
by the men for transfer to the disinfestor. The men hand all their effects 
in over a counter to the personnel having charge of the disinfestor, or 
they hang them on numbered racks whence they are subsequently re¬ 
moved by the attendants. In most stations it is not deemed necessary 
to disinfest the boots, but since heavily infested men may scatter lice 
about when undressing, it must be borne in mind that the insects may 
fall into the boots and consequently reinfest the men later 1 . It may be 
necessary to have a large table in the room upon which to sort and 
handle the clothing. Soiled underclothes, especially when heavily in¬ 
fested, may be dropped directly into tubs which stand in the room 
and contain insecticidal solution, or they may be passed over the counter 
1 The directions given by Peacock, and Jacobs, are for the men to place their boots in 
numbered pigeon holes, dropping their discs and “ other belongings ” inside the boots which 
are taken around to the clean side after the bath. This is not a desirable procedure where 
men are heavily infested, and “other belongings” is a vague term. 
