the folk name for this condition. According to Marczewska, about thirty diseases were associated with plica in Polish folklore. In German and Bohemian spells, there are as many as seventy diseases. Poles were afraid to upset the unclean spirit, and, to pacify it, inserted offerings such as coins into the plica. Kołtun (or gościec, its Polish folk name) did not necessarily describe only the hair formation, it also described the bodily illness without the presence of tangled hair. Pain (especially in joints), rheumatism, etc. were synonymous with it. If plica was present, it was blamed for whims and cravings, which needed to be satisfied promptly; people around a person with plica needed to assist the sufferer to comply with the cravings. Marczewska points out that one old Polish dictionary stated that kołtun created strong cravings, especially for wine (which was imported and expensive). See also Uncombable hair syndrome Dreadlocks List of hairstyles References Gross, Samuel. (1857). Elements of pathological anatomy. Philadelphia. p. 335. on Google books. Reference to "Polish plait" and description. Marczewska, Marzena. (2011), Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, paper in folklore and lingusitic studies, in Polish College of Physiciansof Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum short movie Fisheberg, Maurice. The Jews: A Study of Race and Enrvironment, p. 317 google book Lefevre, Georg, Apology for the Nerves (1844), p. 355-356 google book Wolff, Larry. Inventing of Eastern Europe:Map of Civilization on the Mind of Enlightenment,(1994)book link Stevens, B. Plica Polonica (syn. Plica Neuropathica), Trichological Society, College of Trichology, London, (2004)scientific definition of medical condition Gurazda, Magdalena, Zycie Pabianic, (2011) article quoting Dietl's methods, in Polish Forth, Christopher e. and Crozier, Ivan. Body Parts: Cultural Explorations in Corporeality, p. 111 and p. 116 book description Further reading External links Plica Polonica or the Polish Kołtun at the Wilanów Palace Museum Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum, (BMM) and der Charite, Insitut for Pathologie, Berlin, Germany, picture of plica 1 Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum, (BMM) and der Charite, Insitut for Pathologie, Berlin, Germany, picture of plica 2 Muzeum Etnograficzne im.Marri Znamierowskij-Prufferowej, Torun, Poland, article in Polish containing image of plica Zycie Warszawy, newspaper, Warsaw, Poland, (2010), Image of two plicas from the collection of Museum of Medicine As polio is soon to be officially eradicated, here are five gruesome illnesses no longer with us I Magazine Medical anthropology Hairstyles