Cello testicles
The cello testicle , also known as the cello scrotum , is a joke-made disorder that was first published in 1974 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
In 1974, English gerontologist and Alzheimer's expert Elaine Murphy (now Baroness Murphy) and her husband, John, who runs a brewery , learned that English medical doctor P. Curtis had published an article in the British Medical Journal about a condition called guitar nipples . Curtis had diagnosed three girls with the disease. Allegedly it should have been caused by the constant rubbing of the instrument on the nipple .
The couple, who thought the news was a joke, decided to take it one step further. Therefore, in the same year, the non-medical John Murphy sent a letter to the respected magazine in which he reported an alleged testicular irritation in a professional cellist . The cello scrotum should there by excessive pressing the instrument to the scrotum have originated (scrotum). To the surprise of the couple, the news was published in this magazine, which normally carefully sorts out not serious letters.
The cello scrotum persisted as a disease in experts until 2009, although the described phenomenon is physiologically impossible. The article has been quoted several times. This was most recently reported in a BMJ article from December 12, 2008, which dealt with various diseases that musicians are exposed to. However, doubts about the existence of the condition had arisen earlier - for example in 1991 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology .
The hoax was exposed by the Murphys themselves, who after 34 years believed it was time to uncover the truth.
It is not known whether the guitar nipple disease exists.
Web links
- "Cello testicles" was just a joke. In: Der Spiegel from January 28, 2009
- The invented "cello testicle". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 28, 2009
- Cello scrotum? It's a load of ... nonsense, admits Baroness Murphy. In: The Times, January 28, 2009
Individual evidence
- ^ P. Curtis: Guitar nipple. In: British Medical Journal. 1974, Volume ii, p. 226 PMC 1610876 (free full text)
- ↑ JM Murphy: Cello scrotum. In: British Medical Journal. 1974, vol. Ii, p. 335. PMID 4827125
- ↑ Th Gambichler. Contact dermatitis and other skin conditions in instrumental musicians. In: BMC Dermatology. Volume 4, 2004, p. 3. doi : 10.1186 / 1471-5945-4-3
- ^ S. Rimmer, RL Spielvogel: Dermatologic problems of musicians. In: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Volume 22, Number 4, April 1990, pp. 657-663, PMID 2138638 (Review).
- ↑ S. Bache, F. Edenborough: A symphony of maladies. In: BMJ. 2008, p. 337
- ↑ PE Shapiro: "Cello scrotum" questioned. In: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. April 1991, Vol. 24, p. 665. PMID 1827803
- ^ E. Murphy, JM Murphy: Cello scrotum confession. Murphy's lore. In: BMJ. 2009, volume 338, p. 288 doi : 10.1136 / bmj.b288