The Ineffective Nature Of Chemical Powders

Some medical professionals were aware of the ineffective nature of these powders, with one article in the BMJ stating:
The men spent money, but achieved no solution or cure. This influenced attitudes to the point where men in the trenches created their own myth — half comedically but also with a serious undertone — that lice fed on these chemical powders, getting fatter and friskier. Private Richard Gwinnell of the Gloucestershire Regiment anecdotally recorded in his diary:
Chemical powders were ineffective not only because they did not work, but also simply because the men lost confidence in them as treatments. Soldiers were not going to use them if they did not believe they had an effective quality.