The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-16
SCIENTISTS ARE
 DOING NEW WORK IN THE TRENCHES
Form Campaign Against the "Cooties" That In
 wade Army Camps.

There is in Washington a man in- consptcuously doing his bit, or his all, for his country by serving as a "host" for body lice, the "cooties" of the war zone. He is cooperating, in a very personal and intimate degree, with en- tomologists of the United States De- partment of Agriculture who are striving, under the direction of tha Council of Research of the Council of National Defense, to find preventives and eXterminators for the pests that not only annoy and irritate American soldiers, but that spread trench fever and other diseases among them. This man formerly served the city of Chicago in public capacity. He has son with the American Expedi- tionary Forces in France, and when he volunteered to be a subject in the experimental work of the entomo1o- gists he said he was willing to do any thing that would help out the boys over there. Valuable data in regard to the control of the "cootie'' have been obtained from the parasites liv- ing on his body and moving pictures | of them have been taken through a microscope. The pictures are to be magnif1ed and shown at army camps l before scientists and army officers en- gagged in delousing work
 What Scientists Aim to Do. The entomologists, in addition to watching these particular "cooties' | and others confined in glass tubes and l other places, are testing chemicals to l learn their destructive action on lice, | their effect on human bodies and | their penetration of clothing. Also, 1 they are cooperating with army of l 1cers in testing laundering and de- | lousing processes. They are trying to add to the knowledge of how to | repel, kill or drive away the tiny | parasites that to many of our soldiers | have proved more troublesome than the Huns or the bullets of the Huns. | One of the scientists of the Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agri- 1 culture, also is serving as a host for 1 the parasites, but in a more restricted 1 sense than the Chicago man. His ''cooties" are confined under the glass
 top of wristlet, much like wrist watch, and they pass their existence, from the egg stage to the dead adult,
 on the skin of his arm and can not
 move to any other spot. Through
 the glass cover the entomologist can
 watch the "cooties" as they emerge | from their shells and go through all
 the stages of their life cycle.
 Extensive governmental efforts to
 devise ways of overcoming the parasit-
 ic evil are under way. Similar ef-
 forts have been made and are being
 made in practically every country that | has large armies in the field. The
 war centered attention of entomolo-
 gists upon body lice, which previous to
 the conflict had not received as much
 attention as scientists believe they de.
 serve.
 Not Yet Serious in Camps Here. | The "cootie" has not yet appeared
 in numbers at the camps in this coun-
 try, but if it should do so military au-
 thorities expect to be ready to dea
 with it. Men serving for long period:
 in the trenches, or at other places
 where bathing and disinfecting facili ties are not available, are the princi
 pal sufferers. Delousing stations
 where thorough bathing, hair clipping / and disinfection of clothing can bt done, have been established in thu
 war zone.
 ' The moving pictures that are to b' part of the campaign against. "cooties' show how the louse comes into exis tence, how it passes into the nympl stage and from that to the adult, an, how it propagates its species. The. also will show lesions caused by th' bites of the parasites, and how to fin;
 the eggs and the insects themselve
 in the folds of clothing. These vii
 be added to films to be taken unde the direction of the War Departmen
 which will show a delousing station
 the devices used, and a company o
 men ridding themselves of their un
 welcome visitors.
 To gather and correlate all tn scientific knowledge available on tn : subject Bureau of Entomology scien lists have organized a study class tha meets weekly and sends reports of 1t findings to army officers and other : engaged in eradication of parasites.