Plague doctors

A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of the bubonic plague. In times of epidemics, these physicians were specifically hired by towns where the plague had taken hold. Since the city was paying them a salary, they treated everyone, wealthy or poor.

However, some plague doctors were known to charge patients and their families additional fees for special treatments or false cures. Typically, they were not experienced physicians or surgeons at all; rather, they were often either second-rate doctors unable to otherwise run a successful medical practice or young physicians seeking to establish themselves in the industry. They rarely cured their patients; rather, they served to record a count of the number of infected people for demographic purposes.

Some plague doctors wore a special costume. The garments were invented by Charles de L'Orme in 1630 and were first used in Naples, but later spread to be used throughout Europe. The protective suit consisted of a light, waxed fabric overcoat, a mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose, typically stuffed with herbs, straw, and spices. Plague doctors would also commonly carry a cane to examine and direct patients without the need to make direct contact with them.

The scented materials included juniper berry, ambergris, roses (Rosa), mint (Mentha spicata L.) leaves, camphor, cloves, labdanum, myrrh, and storax. Per the then-widely accepted miasma theory of disease, it was believed this suit would sufficiently protect the doctor from miasma while tending to patients