Abstract
Ad Libitum15 February 1998ItchD.A. Feinfeld, MDD.A. Feinfeld, MDNassau County Medical Center; East Meadow, NY 11554Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-128-4-199802150-00011 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail “and let them scratch wherever it itches.”Dante: Paradiso, Canto XVII, line 129is pain's bratty kid brotherwith squirt-gun and featherto splash or tickle the backsof respectable necks when we'renot looking. It grabs the wirereserved for disastersand gabs on it for hours.Pain has dignity-the martyr's groans are holy;we comfort the wounded-but an itch? We laughat the twisting, reachingfor the remote spot, above all,the scratching.In Dante's Paradise one can ruba prickling patch at will,but in earthly hellour pretense is alwaysinterrupted:a nettle drawn at randomacross innocent skin demandsto be scraped, starts againas the fingernail moves off.Perhaps that's why we nameour chief devil Old Scratch.... Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Nassau County Medical Center; East Meadow, NY 11554Corresponding Author: D.A. Feinfeld, Nassau County Medical Center, 2201 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, NY 11554. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 15 February 1998Volume 128, Issue 4Page: 305 ePublished: 15 August 2000 Issue Published: 15 February 1998 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1998 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...
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