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Right - Phossy jaw by Mutter 1896
Left - "Match factory worker at the end of 19th century suffering from phossy jaw with pathological fracture of the mandible and fistula formation."
Match-makers leprosy or "phossy jaw" was an occupational disease seriously affecting the people manufacturing matches in the 19th century. Caused by the use of white phosphorus, it led to necrosis of the jaw of the children and young adults employed by the likes of Bryant & May. Workers clothes emitted white fumes of phosphorus pentoxide when they returned home and rested by the fire. Their faces and hands glowed in the dark. Their jaw-bones died and fell off, bit by bit, soon after their teeth.
Household Words: A Weekly Journal, Volume 5
By Charles Dickens 1852
Phossy jaw was very difficult to treat, as can be gathered from this from Saint Bartholomew's Hospital report -
Mr. Eldone's jaw-bone, after removal
In 1861 an incident with white phosphorus and Queen Victoria occurred. Concerning an autonomous phosphorus harvester, it is mentioned in the latter part of an article about the allotropes of phosphorus, here.
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A STEAMPUNK NOVEL, FULL OF
ANARCHIC EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
"Hodges emitted a scream the like of which
I hadn't heard since his scrotum was burned off
Unrelated to this post, below is an example of
eclectic science esoterica
Ice Crystals 15 cm across.
Inside a fumarolic cave, Mt. Erebus, Antarctica.
Photo: Nial Peters
Thylacines at Hobart Zoo
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