VOL. 108. NO . MAY t 9Y7

Table I. Microsatellite Instability in Neurofibromas of Two Related NF-l Patients"

Markers T1 T2 T3 T4

D2S 123 + 0 9S126 + + + 0 9S196 + + D9S287 + 09S176 + + D9S127 +

a Three ncurofibro mBs oC the father (T I. T2. T3) and onc of the daughter (T4) were anal yz e d at 23 1l1icros<1 cclli tc lo ci. Altered micro satc llitc l1l;lrkcrs are shown.

sugg ests that this genetic event m ay be characteristic o f tbe late stages of tumor development. On the other hand , the in creased susceptibility to environmental factors, probably involved in neu­rofibroma tumOligenesis, may also explain di fie rences between individuals .

M ultiple genes responsible for several genodermatoses have been recently mapped on chromosome 9 (Pericak-Vance ef ai , 1995 ). Our findin g o f multiple alterations on chrom osome 9 indi cates that "m o difying genes" (Easton et ai, 1993) , unlinked to the NF-1 locus and located in th e regions we analyzed, might ha ve a role it) the pathogenesis of neuro fibromas in NF-l patients. Further investiga-

LETTERS T O T HE ED ITOR 813

tions on a larger number of N F-l p atients are needed to claJ.i fy the precise role o f chrom osome 9 in the developmen t of these tumors .

Mali a Concetta Fargnoli , Sergio C himen ti, Ke tty Pelis D epartm ent of Dermatology

University of L' Aquila, L' Aquila, Italy

REFERE N CES

Easton DF, Poder MA . Huson SM , Ponder HAJ: An alla lys is ofv;lriauon in express io n of ncufo fibro m:tcosis (N F) rype 1. (NF l ): evidence fo r m od ifying gcnes . .4 111 J HUIII Cmet 53:305- 313, t 993

Honchel R . Halling KC , Pittelkow M. Schaid OJ, T hibodeau SN : Microsa telli rc in s t ~lbiljry in M uir-Torre syndrome . Gnllre,. Res 5-1: l t 59 -1 '163 . J 99-t

HOllchc1 It . H all ing KC . Thi bodeau SN : Geno mic insti1bility in I1coplasin. Scmill Cel l Bioi 6:45-52. 1995

Ottini L. Esposiro D L, R.iche lta A. Cnrlcsil1lo M. P"llll.iro tra R. Veri M C. Battisfa P. f rad L. Caramia fG. Calvicri S, C,lma A, Mariani-Co stantini It: Alte rntions o f microsatclli ces in neuroftbro mas of VOlI R cckJin g<1 uscll 's disease. C allce,. Res 55:5677- 5680. 1995

Pericak- Vance MA . Bale AE, Haines JL, Kwiarko w ski D.I . Pil z A, Slaugcnhaupt S, W hite j A. Edwards jH. Marchu k O. Olopade 0 1. Attwood .l , Povey S: R.epo rt o n the fo urth w o rksho p a ll chro mo so m c 9 . A IIII H I/III G elll'l 59:3 -1- 7- 36 5, 1995

Pcris K. Ke ll er G, Chimcnti S. A m <l Il R',a A , Kcd H . Ho Acr H: Microsare llire insrabilitv <1n d loss of herero zygosity in m cl:1110Il1a . J I t/ llest De"''' (ffo! 105:625- 628. 1995 .

Qu inll AG . Healy E. R ehll HlIl 1. ikkink S. ,R ccs JL: Micro sare iJ ire instabi li ty in hU l11:1 n nOIl - lllc l:lno m 3 and mc iano lllll skill cancer. J I I/ llesr D e/'/lIl1(ol 104 :3 09 - 3 12. 1995

Black Skin and the Ideal of Beauty To th e Editor:

Oh laplI'illg East! T o Saba hellce [ selin rhee ... (Hn.fiz , - 1325-1 389)

Black skin has unjustifiabl y been equaled with negati ve values o f the b e arer since at least the time of Ancient Rome two thousand year s ago (Habermehl 1992) . Pro verbial and indiscriminate use o f black as a synonym for bad, malicious, repugnant, was perpetuated . The ideal of beau ty, female beauty at that, was pale or white throug hout th e Old W orld from the coast ofIreland to the Sea of Japan (Holuba r and Schmidt, 1994) . C hristian mythology, rooted in classica.l R om an fundamentals, carried these tradi tions into present day. Liberation m o vements in the second hal f of this century led to the slogan black is beollriji" , coined to boos t the self confidence and pride of m ore heavily pigm ented clines (Holubar and Schmidt, 1994) of man .

W hat should be proven in the fo llowing is that black did no t necessarily constitute a derogative designation in ea rl.i e r times, but rath e r served to depict an exception from the pale-compl exioned peoples in various Old World societies over the centuries.

T h e argument shall be exemplifi ed with the aid of a black beau ty of the High Middle Ages, the Queen o f Sheba o f Biblical fam e, a descendant of Kush and H am , w ho is presumed to ha ve been bla ck. She is a well known fi gure in J ewish, C hristian , and Islamic lore and has b een dep icted time and again . Accordin g to the Bible (1 Kings X:1-13 and 2 C hronicl es IX:1-1 2) the queen visited Sol01110n to present him with riches and to ques tion him . Accordin g to K orani c tradi tion (Sura XXVII) , Solomon sent a bird to deliver a letter and to summon her to J erusalem. T his bird, in H ebrew, is called dukhipat ("!),:,,.,,) ; in Arabic, hudhud (.10\.10\) ; in Engli sh , hoopoe; in Biblical tradition (Leviticus X I:1 9) it is an unclean bird, but one that guard s treasures and carries the shamir (Hebrew, "~IlJ) , the

wondro us worm tha t split the stones fo r the Temple because iron tools were forbidden .

O ne of the most elaborate and comprehensive illustratio ns of the S tory o f Salva tion is the rom anesque enam el alter of N icholas of Verdun , France, fllli shed before A.D. 11 81 in the m onastery o f KJ osterneuburg in the suburbs of Vienna and preserved on site since (Rohrig, 1994) . In this altar the Q ueen of Sheba is bea uti full y depicted with a black face and black hands (Fig 1). She is elegantly positio ned between King Solom on sitting on his throne and one of her servan ts kneeling before the m onarch-she is a class ical ideal of femal e bea uty, at th e sam e time a la ce echo of the beau ties of antiqui ty and a harbinger o f the gothi c m adonnas soon to fo llow .

In light-compl exioned societies . the ideals of m ale and fem ale bea uty usually w ere white. Europe . Near and Middle East, Chin a, and Japan may be viewed as the historical habitat of light­complexioned peoples. Li terary so urces in cl uding holy scriptures. prove rbs, and miniatures illustrate tlli s poin t . King David , a redhead in Bibli cal tradition and a central fIgure of the O ld Testam ent. se rv es as a good example (I Samue l XVI:12; readin g in H ebre w . hu admo ni , ')'~'I'( 'l'1) . T he m ost fa m ou s C hines e p oetes s. Li C hin g C ha o * mlltl (1084 - 1 1. 51), wro te ren silk gall ze so shcer II' ),

//Ihire skill sllill es throllgh. (Wa tso n . 1984) . iitJllj. llJ~JIIl.§ . (pho­ne ti call y translatin g in to: jiang xiao lo u bao bin g j I ying) . T he J apanese prove rb h as it th at '!'ili ff skill //l akes lip for sellell def ects f!:.) 8 -(1\ tMiliA , Oapanese pho netica lly tran lates in to irollo shiro ill'" sc/,irhillall kn kIlSll ). H isto ri ca ll y. both C h inese and Japanese see th emse lves as lI ,hire, cau casians o f Europea n ances­try as trollsillrellf. T hi s is a very goo d observatio n indee d if o ne loo ks at th e skin o f p hoto type I perso ns, in w h om blu e vein s. red capill aries, and ye ll o w elastos is shin e thro ugh. Wo m en are less stro ngly pi gm e n ted because in m any societies wo m en are m o re likely to stay indoors and are less exposed to en viro nm en ta l ultra vio le t lig ht. T he above Jap anese proverb uses shiro, B . ,!'Ilire, pro no lln ce d "ai in C hin ese. as a ch aracte r. T he C h i­nese ve rse is les s tri vial , lltili zin g the chara cter , )lillg, ~ shill )' .

814 LETTERS TO THE EDITOI1..

Figure 1. Depiction of the Q ucen of Sheba, King Solomon and two servants. (Enamel altar of Nicholas ofVerdlln, before A.D. 1181 , Monastery of K.!osrcrnllcburg. Austria)

tm llsl llCCIII , w hich incorporates the character )'11, jade, .3i, to indi cate th e lu stro us quality of pale skill .

Over the 2- l/2 'Tullennia of which we have a w ritten tradition

1'\-1£ JOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE DERMATOLOGY

of Western and Eastern societies. persons of dark complex. ion always constituted exceptions from the rule, and the fact of darker skin in a par ticu lar individual merited special mention . Sappho, the great poetess of abo ut 600 B.C., was dark. IltKpa KU\. !-If,,utvu, sIIIall alld black she is ca lled by Ma ximus of Tyrus. Ovid ha s he r say, calldida si 110 11 SII III , (bi/C 'I'iJifc [ all' IIof) (Wissowa el ai, 1968) . Sunburn is co nsid. ered cosmetica ll y undesirable, both in the Song of Song 1:6, don'f look of !li e, I all' (allll ed, readin g in Hebrew, al limlti

sllconi sl, cNilnrkllOrcf, n,n,n'tl t)N'tI tlN,n ~N and in the play Dyskolos by Menandros (34211-29110 B.C.) w here Knemon says, H e is sIIIIburned, is I, e n [anil e,.? (act IV, verse 754) , I J , :. •

Em KEK(llycal !-lEV. "(£WP)'OC; EOU j W hat can be concluded from tlus literary exclu'sion? Black as a

color is as neutra l in its value as is w hite or any other. Ideals of beauty are white in w hite societies, black in black ones. Due to media domination (script, printing, libraries, etc.) by pale-complex. ioned peopl es as much as by the spread of religions, C hristianity primarily, prevailing white views became conunon-place. C ircuu,. stances fac ili tated such a stance; because night is dark and to sense fear in the dark night is easier than in bright daylight, to compare dark to frightening is not unnatural. It is immoral though, if such epithets are applied to fellow man . T his notwithstanding, black historica lly was not synonymous with ugly; on the contrary, it could , in wlute societies as well as dark ones, be a f., cec of beauty and attra ction (fi'ol11 th e Queen of Sheba to J osephine Baker. Whitney Houston and Naomi Campbell), of admiration (Grace Bumbry or Leontyne Price) , or of veneration (the b lack madonna of J aSl1a Gora, Saintes-Maries-de-l a-Mer (Sara) , and elsewhere) .

Karl Holubar Departments of the History of Medicin e and of Dermatology

University of Viett113 Vienna, Austria

REFERENCES

Habermeh l P: Pr11JC~tII{f II//d til'l' A.t: )/pt,;r cJflt'l' Dild",. elt.'s Do'se" j Ill Iriilu.'11 (!{iiknuisdre71 C hristt'lIIll11l. Eill Vcr.welt Z"f Passio S(lI1((t, r"llI P CI'I'( '!II(JC cl FelicirnriJ. Tr.wc altd U UI/:rSll r llftll,l.!t'II . Akadcll1 ic Vcrln g, lJcrlil1 , 1992. lld. -)40, pp. 145- 160

H o lubi.1 r K. Schn'lidt C: 5 11" flIUJ Skill , Ostc rrcichischc ArZlCkal1mlc r. Vit:tll1u. 1990l Rohrig F: DcI' f/crclufH:r Allar, M.lycr & Comp .• ViCIlIl ;I. 1994 Watson D: Till' Cc)/Jl lllbin Book (?(ChilU:sc Poctr),. Colulll bia Un ivers ity Press. New York

1984. p. 369 W issow;1 G ff al (cds.); (o rigi nal cdiLOr. cf :11): P(tf{l r ts I?.eaieflrydopncllk 1I1'r J,..·/nssi:uhrn

Il llcr /ufIl.fUlisst'IIJcJltljtCl1 t Dnu:kcnmfl ll cr, Sturrg.,rt. 196H, suppt vol X l, column 1227