From the various public health and military authorities I approached I received little encouragement and no practical suggestions as to problems they would like me to attack. It was evident that any initiative would have to come from me.
During World War I, human lice, carriers of typhus and trench fever, had caused millions of deaths among soldiers and civilians, and it seemed likely that this situation might be repeated. Already there was considerable worry about head lice, which had been found on a high proportion of city children evacuated to the country to avoid the expected air raids. This surprised public health authorities, for statistics based on regular medical inspections had detected only a tiny proportion of verminous children, even in slum schools.
I eventually persuaded the national Board of Education (then governing state schools and their medical service) to let me investigate the problem. I found that the ...
