Evening star., 1942-11-24
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory. Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Coolies, most troublesome pests of the
last war, have been conquered effec-
lively by Department Of Agriculture
entomologists, working at the request of
the Army.
They have developed q method, Sec
retary Of Agriculture Claude r. Wickard
announced, by which clothing can be rid
completely of body lice and their eggs
within less than an hour with equip
ment which is cheap, compact, and 50
light that 1t can be carried by airplane
to any battle sector.
Nearly all men who served at the
front in 19l7-lS were tortured by the
insects. Searches of undershirts were
nightly ceremonies, productive of some
Of the choicest humor of the war. When
regiment came out Of the lines one of
the first steps when they arrived at
rest camp was to put all its clothing
eiiouSAi q ACdFy, Siu1iiSy OClOuo4llB liid-
chine which could not have been oper-
ated in the fighting area, even If 1t could
have been transported there.
The cootie problem was far worse for
British and French troops during the
days Of trench warfare before the Amer
leans arrived. 1t is bound to develop
where men are crowded together in
relatively unsanitary conditions Up to
now 1t has troubled both German and
Russian armies on the eastern front,
but body lice have not appeared among
American troops who have not become
begged down In any area.
Besides the extreme discomfort which
1t causes, the cootie is the spreader of
typhus fever, the scourge of armies from
the start of history. That authentic
typhus did not appear on the western
front in the last war is considered little
short OF a miracle; and the prevalent
trench fever" actually may have been
low-grade typhus. Coolies were GER
tainly responsible for the typhus cpl
demic which killed upwards of 10000, 600
in the Balkans and the Ukraine imme-
diately after the war.
An essential element of the Depart
ment of Agriculture experiment Is a new
type Of fumigant which kills both the
cooties themselves and their eggs. In
the nightly cootie hunts Of the last war
1t was impossible to dig these out Of the
seams of underwear-and this meant
that there would be a new crop of the
insects In few hours.
The entomologists started with a mass
OF information on body lice effecting
both men and animals and long expert
ence In funigating for other types Of
insects. Solution Of the problem con-
sisted largely In putting the two types
OF information together, and an effective
method, Mr.. Wickard says, was reported
to the military authorities within six
weeks.
The method already has been estab-
hshed on working basis the Secretary
says. Details are necessarily confiden-
tial. The only soldiers, so far as known,
who now are suffering from cooties are
enemies. The Russians, close to home,
have much better sanitary facilities for
the most part than the invading Ger
mans.
The American death rate, despite all
the discomforts Of war, is taking a sharp
drop this year.
This is revealed by statistics for the
first six months Just published by the
United States Public Health Service,
based on preliminary returns from 2e
States, Alaska and Hawaii.
The death rate from all causes has
been 10.5 per 1000 of the population.
This is about 5 per cent less than the
corresponding rate for 1941 and 8 per
cent less than the corresponding rate
for 1910. All except five Of the States
for which information is available re-
ported decrease.
A drop in the mortality rate from all
causes resulted from a decrease in the
rate for each Of the important causes Of
death except cancer. This was 1l9 per
100000 population, against 1ls for the
frst half Of 1941. The only other dis
ease which killed more persons was
spinal meningitis, but this is a relatively
minor factor.
tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia,
diabetes, cerebral hemorrhage, heart
disease, kidney disease and accidents
were considerably less prevalent. Most
OF the decline In deaths from accident
resulted from decrease In automobile
1atalities-14 per cent less than the rate
for 1941. All except three of the States
reported a decrease, due in large part
to the restrictions on tires and gasoline
and the more strictly enforced speed
laws.
Both the infant and maternal NOR
tality rates continued to decline. The
former was about 10 per cent and the
latter about 20 per cent less than in
1941. This is all the more significant
since the birth rate is up about 6 per
cent.
The record Is unlikely to be upset by
the second half Of the year, for which
records are unavailable, say Public
Health of1cials. Summer and autumn
ordinarily are the healthiest seasons
and deaths tend to be more or less con-
centrated during the winter.
Latest reports show that most epi-
demic diseases are at low ebb. Diph-
liberia, smallpox and typhoid fever rate.
are among the lowest ever recorded. In
f1uenza is slightly above the average
for the past five years, but nearly two
thirds Of the reported cases are in
Texas.