French Plague Doctor

    1. French Plague Doctor   Time 2008-05-29 18:42
  • This is not a piece of art done by me, it is a picture of how a French doctor would look during the 14th century, which is when the plague epidemic was going on. The beak on the mask is filled with "posies," which are sweet smelling flowers. The reason they are filled with this is because the French believed that the plague was caused by poisonous gas flowing up from the earth. So to protect themselves from the non-existent poison gas, they wore these masks, and thought that the posies would purify the air they breathed, freeing them from infection from the disease. The masks didn't work though, because they didn't know about Microbes or "Germs," as people call them, back then. And another thing is, some people think that the rhyme "Ring-around-the-rosie" is about the plague. It goes "Ring-around-the-rosie. Pockets full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!" See how it could be about the plague? The stick in the outfit is so the doctors wouldn't have to touch the patients with they're own hands. And the other use of the posies is so they wouldn't have to smell the puss from the burst boils, or all of the dead people.Sorry for the long description, but after seeing this at the museum today and thinking it was so interesting, I couldn't help myself from posting a video and sharing this interesting topic with you all.
  • Tag: »14th »Century »ChalkSucks »Doctor »French »Plague
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