The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-09

MS COluulA.
some of the germs in their blood.
True all returning soldiers, sailors
and marines are supposed to be de-
loused before they re-enter their
country, but accidents will happen
and anyway the service man who
has become a reservoir for louise
borne diseases may nick up a crop
of lice and these may proceed to
spread the disease TO the civil pop
ulation.
Even il this is a somewhat re-
mote possibility there are plenty
of other good reasons for getting
rid of such filthy things as lice.
And since every once in while
someone in even the highest So
ciety comes home with a head full
of lice, it is a problem which af-
fects the high and the low, the
clean and the dirty, and you might
as well know what to do.
There are two varieties of lice
the head louise and the body louise,
and they stick pretty much to their
own territory. The head louise can
be detected by seeing the animal
itself slithering in and out among
the hairs, as Burns did that day
in church which inspired him to
write the everlasting lines:
"Oh! wad some power the giftie
gle us,
To see ourselves as ithers see
u.s.
And even if you don't see the
beastie itself you can detect the
eggs cemented to a hair looking
for all the world like little grains
of sand or salt. OF course the in
tested victim usually knows it by
the itching. If he has never had
any lice before he may be attacked
by a sudden, mysterious itching of
the scalp or body. The old hand
knows right away what the itch Is
due to.
Removing Body Lice
On the body, lice lsave little red
blood clot spots which may be .
guide to the fact of invasion.
The proper treatments for
louise infestation Of the body is
first and foremost to get them out
of all the underwear and clothes.
All the clothes must be steamed
and pressed with a hot iron. Such
clothing as can be boiled should
be boiled.
Most insect powders do not
touch them. Sulphur powder, or
n powder made up Of So parts
naphthalene, 2 parts iodoform and
2 parts Of creosote usually is eff
fective. II the clothing is freed
from them they are not often
found on the body afterwards, be-
cause they remain attached to the
clothing even while feeding. The
body should be thoroughly bathed
and scrubbed and the hairy parts
where scratch marks or scales are
seen should be shaved. After the
bath the skin surface should be
rponged with benzene.
Treatment for Head Lice
The head louise is Q somewhat
more complicated animal to get /.
rid Of. The head can be shaved
and that will do the trick, but
there are obvious disadvantages
to that The old method Of treat
ment was TO soak the head and hair
thoroughly in equal parts of crude
petroleum and olive oil and band
age for "a hours. A bathing cap
can be left over the bandage. The
mixture dissolves the glue which
attached the eggs to the hair shaft
and they can be combed out with
q fine comb. II also kills the adult
lice. Its objection is that it leaves
an odor. The most elegant and
latest preparations which are free
from all these objections are
phenyl celIosalve and benzyl eel
losdlve. They are made by the
Carbon and Carbide Chemical
Corporation. They are used in 10
TO 40 per cent concentration.