Image of a plague doctor by Gerhart Altzenbach 1700's
Historical Information
As may be seen on picture here,In Rome the doctors do appear,When to their patients they are called,In places by the plague appalled,Their hats and cloaks, of fashion new,Are made of oilcloth, dark of hue,Their caps with glasses are designed,Their bills with antidotes all lined,That foulsome air may do no harm,Nor cause the doctor man alarm,The staff in hand must serve to showTheir noble trade where'er they go.
-Anonymous 17th Century Poem
It's hard to imagine that there was a time where intimidation was considered part of proper bed side manner for a doctor, yet the image of the plague doctor speaks to this quite clearly. Though the details of the plague doctor's costume were created with the protection of the doctor in mind, they had a second intention, one of the instillation of fear. If you saw this giant raven-like figure entering your neighbors home, you knew no good could follow. The engraving above speaks to this effect as the left side's background shows children fleeing from the plague doctor.
The costume of the plague doctor was not totally based on the instillation of terror however, and each part of the total costume served a purpose, even if the reasoning behind it's use has now been debunked by modern science.
The wide brimmed hat was worn as it was the traditional mark of the doctor. It would have identified a member of the medical profession much like a police hat would in the present. The most striking feature is, of course, the bird-beaked mask. The reasoning behind the aviary visage was two fold. One was that the plague was spread by birds and that by wearing the mask of a bird the doctor could draw the disease from the patient to the garment in an act of sympathetic magic. Additionally the beak was filled with strongly aromatic herbs and spices. This was to overpower the "bad air" which was another suspected cause of the spread of the Black Death. One can also imagine that the gangrene of the many plague patients did not give off a pleasant smell, perhaps this mask diminished those scents. The overcoat of the doctor was waxed or coated by suet and left no skin exposed to the terrible disease. It was also thought that the lipid coating on the overcoat could diminish the chances of the disease getting through the cloth to the doctor. At the very least it reduced the likelihood of bodily fluids clinging to it. Under the oilskin overcoat leather pants that bear a remarkable similarity to fisherman's waders were worn. This was intended to be an additional source of defense against the plague. Oftentimes the first place that the plague would manifest symptoms was in the lymph nodes, located in the armpits, neck, and groin. Therefore special care was taken to doubly protect those areas.
Though in the end the real culprit was fleas, this terrifying costume may offered some modicum of protection to the doctors. However it also may have helped to carry fleas from one place to the next in it's heavy folds. Either way, it's something that I have always found frightening & fascinating.
(SOURCE: Oxford Journals>Humanities & Medicine
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