Survey 3

1450-1750

The period- 1450-1750- was witness to rapid development in art, science, and various other fields. There was also the plague that left a trail of death and pain wherever it went.

The plague, also known as the ‘Black Death,’ had a death toll of more than 75-200 million people. The disease spread rapidly and left many cities empty, with barely anyone left to bury the dead.

Plague Doctors- are you sure it was only their costumes that caused their bad reputation?

**The costume worn by plague doctors**
image source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/plague-doctor-costumes

During the plague outbreak, most affluent people moved out of the city, and that included the doctors as well. Since the medical staff was low, anyone willing to visit the infected became Plague Doctors. They were inexperienced, and some had no prior medical knowledge.

They used inhuman and strange techniques to combat the disease, such as ‘bloodletting,’ which was the withdrawal of blood from the infected because they believed the blood had to be balanced to keep a person healthy. Some also tried heating their instruments and then bursting the boil on their body to release the toxic fluid built up inside.

When these treatments failed, the doctors began to experiment and use any remedy they could conjure, usually at the expense of the patient.

**Picture of the beak-shaped mask**
image source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/plague-doctors

The Plague Doctors wore a costume, similar to hazmat suits today, to protect themselves from the disease. They wore a beak-shaped mask to protect them from contracting the disease and usually had flowers or spices in their beak to help keep away the ‘miasma’ because they believed that the plague spread through ‘miasma’ or bad smell.

They wore long leather overcoats covered in wax to protect themselves. At that time, they were unaware that the plague spread through flea bites that usually happened along with rat infestations. The wax coating kept the fleas away, actually helping the doctors stay a little safer.

They also wore wide-brimmed leather hats to symbolize their job and carried wooden sticks to examine a patient without coming in contact with them. The cane also came in handy with aggressive and difficult patients.

**Salvator Rosa, ‘Humana Fragilitas’, 1657**
image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hen-magonza/26246282543/

The plague doctors might have been the substance of our nightmares, but they played a huge role during this epidemic. Not only did they put themselves in harm’s way to serve their patients, but also experimented with various treatment which is a part of science. They would eventually succumb to the plague themselves or stay in isolation because of their profession. Either way, they were essential workers and important in history.