During the 1800s in both America and Britain, many women worked as matchmakers—not the romantic kind, but the ones who made matchsticks for a living. These women were called “matchstick girls,” and their job was to dip wooden sticks into a chemical called white phosphorus to make “strike-anywhere” matches, which had become very popular.
The work may have seemed simple, but it was extremely dangerous. Working around white phosphorus every day caused a terrible disease known as phossy jaw. This condition made the bones in the jaw rot away, leading to horrible pain. In many cases, the disease spread to the brain and became deadly—unless doctors removed the jaw entirely.
Even though white phosphorus caused so much suffering, it was used for many years before finally being banned. This is the disturbing true story behind phossy jaw—a deadly condition faced by hardworking women who were just trying to earn a living.