Scratching such as louse irritation renders the skin prone to sepsis. "Louse-rash", if it may be termed so, has been found distressingly common and has been frquently mistaken for scabies.

Lousiness is felt mostly at night. This is in spite of the fact that practically the same number of lice is present on the body during the day. Probably the distractions of the day keep keep the mind away from the pest, but at night when everything is conducive to the desire for rest and comfort, the mind is most sensitive to the slightest irritation. Then the crawling of the insects, their sharp stabs, the itchiness of each tiny wound and the fierce desire to scratch become intolerable. As one man said: "You feel as if you could rive yourself to pieces." Sleep is at best broken and uneasy, but is usually impossible. Consequent upon loss of sleep, impaired vitality and mental weariness become very real miseries to the soldier, the value of whom depends upon a high pitch of bodily well-being. These are the soldier's most acute troubles primarily due to lice at this Front, but it must never be lost sight of that the menace of typhus, possibly more imminent at the eastern Fronts, is still present at the Western.