The anodyne necklace: a quack remedy and its promotion.

Infant mortality in the eighteenth century was notoriously high,' and much of the morbidity and mortality was directly attributed to teething, both in the vulgar mind,2 and, equally, in the medical.3 No one wanted to lose a child, even though parental affection and attachment might not be as strong in times of high infant mortality.4 There would always be a ready market for any product which somehow guaranteed protection for a child against "Feavers, Convulsions, Consumptions, Ruptures, Chincoughs, Rickets, and such attendant Distempers".5 Throughout the century there was a remedy at hand that claimed to protect the teething infant from all the associated childish and potentially fatal conditions. There was a necklace which, when placed around the neck of the child, and left to do its quiet work, protected it.