Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

The Tooth Worm as Hell’s Demon”, southern France, 18th Century; This artistically designed ivory carving is contained in a molar, 10.5 cm in height, which can be separated into two halves of equal size. It opens out into two scenes depicting the infernal torments of toothache as a battle with the “tooth worm”. The legend of the “tooth worm” as the cause of toothache originated in Mesopotamia around 1800 B.C. A legend, in much the same sense as that of the Creation, concerning the origin of the tooth worm is to be found in the inscriptions on ancient tablets from 1800 B.C., and from the New Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods of 650 and 550 B.C.

The Tooth Worm as Hell’s Demon”, southern France, 18th Century; This artistically designed ivory carving is contained in a molar, 10.5 cm in height, which can be separated into two halves of equal size. It opens out into two scenes depicting the infernal torments of toothache as a battle with the “tooth worm”. The legend of the “tooth worm” as the cause of toothache originated in Mesopotamia around 1800 B.C. A legend, in much the same sense as that of the Creation, concerning the origin of the tooth worm is to be found in the inscriptions on ancient tablets from 1800 B.C., and from the New Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods of 650 and 550 B.C.