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I'm Itching to Get Started on This One
NMB, Florida February 26, 2002 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
I'M ITCHING TO GET STARTED ON THIS ONE
I really anticipate Tuesdays because the NY Times Science Tuesday appears on
my doorstep. Two great articles were in today's issue. One is on
archaeology (when I grow up I want to be an archaeologist) and one is on the
head louse. That is where the itching started. As I write I no longer itch
and follow up by scratching.
The news is that the head louse that has accompanied our evolution since
the beginning is beginning to get smart and has evolved to withstand the
preparations humans have developed to kill them off. They develop immunity
fairly quickly and it takes new formulations of the licide (my term) ever
stronger to do away with the pests.
It was funny and perhaps predictable that when I began reading the article
I began to feel movement in my scalp and started to scratch. The more I
read the more I imagined that I had lice and they were having a field day on
my scalp preparing homesteads and raising a lot of little lice or nits.
I do not remember ever having lice as residents or cohabitants when I was a
kid. I do remember the "fine-tooth comb" of Bill Bailey fame. His woman
threw him out of his house with "nothing but a fine-tooth comb". If it
weren't for the habit of each louse to live off his host person by sipping
blood of that person I suppose it wouldn't be so bad. It seems to be a rule
of nature that all creatures live off of others in different ways. Then,
too, I believe that the lice who live off of our bounty are carriers of
disease that kill us off. The combs cut down on the lice population but the
best cure is to snatch kids bald-headed!
Lice are quite resourceful. If you are trying to get rid of them either by
chemicals or expiring, the louse can transfer to another host by our
childish human habits of contact with others. That is how they move on.
They cannot jump from one to another. It is good for us and bad for them if
we ever find a licide that will work 100%.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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