566 Combating Lousiness 
hair cut and soaked their heads in the mixture of kerosene and 
olive oil. 
“One regiment could just be run through this cleaning station in a 
day, and then the men had to occupy billets vacated that morning by the 
unit which had just relieved them in the trenches. Lack of quarters made 
this Box-and-Cox arrangement unavoidable. The condition of the 
bedding in the billet, thus in permanent occupation without an interval 
for treatment—even had any means of treatment been available—in 
due course discounted what benefit had been achieved, but it was 
something to know that the whole unit had at least been clean and 
vermin-free for an interval, however brief. There being only the one 
building large enough and capable of being spared for this purpose for 
a division of 20,000 men, it follows that continuous work at the maximum 
capacity only enabled each unit to be dealt with once in twenty days. 
“This description serves two purposes—it indicates something of the 
difficulties which were experienced at the front, and something of the 
energy and ingenuity which were expended by our medical officers in the 
attempt to cope with those difficulties.” 
Movable Lousing Stations. 
These were started at an early date in the present war, all kinds 
of apparatus, improvised and otherwise, being utilized. In the French 
army, it was soon recognized that frequent baths and disinfestation of 
clothing were of paramount importance, disinfestation by sulphur dioxide 
being chiefly employed and steam to a subsidiary degree. The trans¬ 
portable shower-baths introduced in the French army will presently be 
referred to (p. 571), these having proved of signal service. In connection 
with movable lousing stations the reader is referred to the description 
(p. 463) of the railway van disinfectors as employed in Egypt. 
The published accounts of the work of disinfestation in the field are 
sketchy and meagre as a rule, a contrast being afforded by the description 
of Lelean (1917, pp. 203-6) which shows what ingenuity can do in the 
face of difficulties. In combating lousiness among troops in Egypt 
Serbian barrels were used as disinfestors (see p. 455): 
Lousing an Isolated Division in the Desert. 
Much organization is required so that the process shall run smoothly. 
To disinfest 1400 men per day the following articles are required: 
80 Serbian barrels; 500 ft. length of canvas troughs; 140 shower-bath 
