Gr. H. F. Nutt all 
579 
Influence of climate on lice (note to p. 90). “ Know, Sancho, that the 
Spaniards and those who embark at Cadiz to go to the East Indies, have 
for one of the signs by which they learn that they have passed the 
equinoctial line of which I have spoken, that on all who are in the ship 
the lice die off, without one remaining, nor in all the vessel is any to be 
found, if they give his weight in gold for him” (Cervantes, 1615, Don 
Quixote, Part II, Chapter 29). 
In H. E. Watts’ translation (1895, vol. hi. p. 317, London, Adam 
and Charles Black) occurs the following footnote bearing on this 
passage: 
“The authority for this remarkable piece of natural history, which 
subsequent investigators have not confirmed, is Abraham Ortelius in his 
Theatrum Orbis terrarum, of which an edition in Spanish was printed in 
Antwerp in 1612. He, however, declares that it was immediately after 
passing the Azores on the voyage westward, that navigators found them¬ 
selves freed of fleas, bugs, and every kind of personal vermin.” 
In the 1592 edition of Ortelius, printed by Plantin in Antwerp, of 
which I possess a copy, the following passage occurs on p. 15: 
“Mirandum autem quiddam de harum insularum solo, aut caelo, ne 
dicam genio, hoc accepi: Soluentes vtpote ex nostro hemisphaerio versus 
Americam, aut nouum, vt vocant, Orbem, quam primum Agores a tergo 
reliquerint, continuo liberari a cimicibus pulicibusque, atque omni 
pediculorum homines infestantium genere, quod statim, praeternaui- 
gatis his insulis, moritur, extinguiturque.” 
It is interesting to note that Moffett, writing in 1590, mentions this 
(vide ed. 1634, p. 262) and refers the disappearance of lice to “caloris 
inter Tropicos.” 
The lousing room of former times. “ He went into the lousing Room, 
and turned a little Board that hung at the Door, on which was written, 
One is lousing , that no other might go in until he had done.” This 
passage is taken from Stevens’ translation of Quevedo made in 1707. 
The original work in Spanish was written about 1608 and first published 
in 1626. Dr Shipley kindly lent me a copy of the edition illustrated by 
Yierge in which the “little Board” bears the two words “espulgador 
hay.” Although pulga stands for flea in Spanish, Dr Shipley informs me 
that Neumann and Baretti give espulgador the primary meaning of 
a louser. Therefore, translated, the words mean “ there is a louserT 
Quevedo-Villegas, F. (eds. 1707,1892), Pablo de Segovia, the Spanish Sharper. 
[Transl. by J. Stevens, 1707, in Quevedo’s Compl. Wks. 1709, p. 229.] See also 
