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  1. A physician's tooth as...
  2. A physician's tooth as an infallible amulet
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A physician's tooth as an infallible amulet

BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7445.930 (Published 15 April 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:930
  1. Jeremy Hugh Baron, honorary professorial lecturer
  1. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York

    When Nubians ambushed Mohammed Ali's son, Ismayl Pasha, they spared his Greek physician and “drew out all his teeth, which they divided amongst themselves to sew up in theirgrigri[amulets] bags, it being their firm belief whosoever carries about him the tooth of a physician (drawn whilst living) secures himself from all diseases for all time to come.”

    King CW. Early Christian Numismatics and other Antiquarian Tracts

    London: Bell and Daldy, 1873:202

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