190102-0010-PP - Dentist

Dentist carrying his tools in a box with the caption “Everything for inside your mouth” (御口中一切), ca. 1867 (Keio 3). He is wearing a haori and takageta.

Original text: “Travelling Dentist. In Japan, in addition to the duties of a dentist, the doctor also commonly practised chiropody and exorcism: His practise as a Chiropodist, which profession he unites with that of a Dentist, is considerable even among foreigners. Dentists belong to a class of people who are not above tricks of Jugglery and Necromancy: who make money by selling charms as well as medicines of various descriptions: and who will even descend to amusing children by swallowing swords and doing other mountebank’s tricks, when they are not employed in extraction of teeth or cutting corns. The dental instruments in use are of primitive description, and calculated to inflict the full amount of torture which may be expected for the fee.”

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