The nipple sleeps

We just have to visit Peter Blegvad again (no heavy burden), and this time (perhaps) in an unexpected environment. In the book "The Phantom Museum and Henry Wellcome's Collection of Medical Curiosities" (Eds. Hildi Hawkins and Danielle Olsen, Profile Books, 2003) Blegvad has written a chapter on milk(!), presenting some of the enormous collection of curiosities ("Milk a matter of life and death", pp 105-141). To describe a nipple shield Peter Blegvad wrote this card:

"Nipples are incredible
Babies think they're edible.
Tender after being chewed,
After being drained of food,
The throbbing buds cannot abide
Abrasion, so the have to hide,
Withdrawn, if only for a spell,
Like whelk into its shell.
The nipple sleeps, its eyes are sealed,
Protected by a nipple-shield."

That's the way to inform in a museum!
In this book Hari Kunzru also tells the story of some of the people who were so unlucky that they became collector´s items, like shrunken heads and human skin with tatoos. Stronger stuff than milk this.
Do you want to know some more about Henry Wellcome and his collections, check here, and click on library, collections or images. If you want more information on Peter Blegvad, visit this blog, and look through older posts too. Please take a look at Leviathan.