Phtheiriasis Corporis

This affection is very rarely met with in young persons, and is found most frequently in middle and advanced life, and especially in the feeble and illfed, and among the frequenter of prisons and cheap lodgings. Though sometimes met with in women, nine-tenths of the cases are among men.

The pediculus corporis does not lodge upon the body, but infests and breeds among the folds of the undergarments, from which hiding places it sallies forth to seek its nourishment from the skin. This it pierces with the sucker, and continues to feed until gorged with blood. These insects excite at times a lively, and most annoying itching, and lead to vigorous scratching. In cases that have lasted for any length of time, the skin gradually darkens, even to the color of a mulatto.