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P#10 Nits in the museum Dominique Van Neste. Skinterface, Tournai, Belgium The author serendipitously observed whitish "pearl-like" nodes rather regularly disposed along the hair decorating a Batak mask (C.2478 *). Such masks are thought to be worn at funeral rites. Close-up photographs showed a massive number of nits. The museum curator who did examine the mask more closely reported that "the hair and the skin to which it is attached comes from the tail of an ox or a water buffalo". The hair is not homogeneously distributed on the top of the mask and looks more like the result of a scalp flap. Unfortunately, no hair samples could be obtained for microscopic analysis. Since then nits have been found from time to time as the author, equipped with a monocular magnifying glass, was strolling in various museums. The observation of a "shrunken head" imported from South America by Semmelweiss (1818-1865 **) appears worth mentioning. Again the hair and skin, which is shaped into the form of a human head, does not appear to be of human origin…and the pearls, almost like the others, were evocative of nits. An amazing finding in the luggage of the forefather of antisepsis. Hence, most of the nits found in museums are from ectoparasites who are living on the animal skin. Such samples may be of interest for further study but it is very hard to obtain hair samples from these conservatories. The exact nature of the "pearl-like" structures and the exact nature of the "donor", the animal from which hair and skin is taken remains to be defined. Nits of ectoparasites reflect the long-standing love story between living beings and museums may become an interesting source of material for tracing the evolution of those parasites. Credit line: *National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet, department of
ethnography, Copenhagen), |
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