The Secret of the Universe

Last week I spent Saturday afternoon at the Wellcome Collection, looking at the exhibitions.  While I was wandering around the rooms, the alleys and corners of the museum I saw a lot of very interesting things related to medicine, drugs (legal and illegal), humanity's fascination with both and the slow and relentless journey from unorthodox, and very painful medical practices, to today's knowledge and expertise. Ouch! It hurts looking at those old instruments, potions and even a dentist chair placed next to a Chinese torture chair—I can definitely see the connection there. I also discovered that one of my cherished possession, accidentally acquired while moving home, is an amputation saw used by doctors in the 19th century—I won't look at it with the same fondness from now on. I like doing DIY jobs around the house and I've always been very proud of this little saw with its lovely oak handle. I have even used it a few times and it always worked very well, now I know why!  

It was in the Medicine Man collection room that a couple of Greco-Roman phallic symbols attracted my attention. I immediately thought of Berlusconi and of how things haven't changed that much in the last few centuries. There was also an anti-masturbation ring with a label saying: 'probably British' which didn't surprise me either.

But apart from seeing all these interesting and enlightening items I had the biggest surprise of all when I walked into the contemporary section: all shiny, ultramodern and glittering with lights. Here were displayed the latest robotic medical instruments used nowadays for the treatment and study of diseases. On the other side of the room a tall bookcase was standing from floor to ceiling, stacked up with big, thick, heavy books—around thirteen in total—which contained the complete humane genome. One of these books was laid open on the middle shelf, I looked down and I saw a myriad of tiny letters covering the whole page. The first think that came into my mind was to see if I could find a word, any word, among those millions of letters. Was there a secret message in the human genome that no one had discovered yet? I scanned through both pages, as quickly as I could, full of curiosity and eager to find the answer to all my questions.

It didn't take me long. After a couple of minutes I screamed with amazement, joy and disbelieve. Yes, there was a word. I could see it quite clearly; it was written in capital letters joined in a chain-like sequence to the preceding and following letters.

Here it is:

TOCACATATTCO

I have highlighted the word and for those who know Italian it is self-explanatory, and I have no more to say. For those who don't, I would suggest they'd looked it up in a dictionary or asked a friend.

Had I discovered the secret of the universe? Was it the maker's signature that was not happy with the final result of his/her work? I don't know, but if anyone finds another word in one of the thirteen volumes could you please let me know!