The bacteria was spread through flea bites, contact with contaminated bodily fluids, and inhalation of water droplets from people who coughed or sneezed that were infected. We now know it wasn’t the “bad air” that was causing the plague, but a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. The clothing was also covered in different fragrances to protect the body from the miasma. It was to keep the plague doctor’s body as contained as possible from the poisoned air around them. But what about the rest of the plague doctor coat? Was there some special purpose to the long coats and brimmed hats? The mask itself wasn’t meant to be scary so much as functional. What was the rest of the plague doctor’s coat made out of? In some ways this was helpful as the outfit served as a barrier from the actual harbinger of death that caused the plague, bacteria.
Basically the mask, and everything plague doctors wore, were to protect the body from the “bad air” connected to the miasma theory. Glass coverings over the holes were required to protect the eyes from the poisoned air. The mask also contained openings for the eyes so that the plague doctor could see. The long length of the bird mask allowed enough herbs to be packed in to provide time for the “bad air” to be dealt with before it entered the plague doctor’s lungs. Some of the more exotic ones were viper flesh powder, cinnamon, nosegays, and honey. The masks would be filled with what was called theriac, which was made up of more than 55 different herbs and other compounds. The holes were vital so the doctor could continue to breathe while wearing the mask, and the herb concoction was important to stop the miasma from reaching the doctor’s nose and mouth. Specific herbs and perfumes needed to be stuffed into the nose of the mask to separate the two small holes at the end of the beak from the face of the doctor. The masks themselves were not enough though. Therefore, the plague doctors needed to protect themselves from the “bad air,” and this was done using the beaked masks that we associate with plague doctors. The symptoms of diseases were attributed to a person’s body being out of balance, which could lead to death. Once in the body, the noxious air would throw off a person’s bodily fluids and auras, or what was known as humors during this time period. This deadly poison would come from the rotting flesh of bodies both alive and dead. Basically what physicians at the time thought was illnesses such as the plague was passed from one person to the next from noxious forms of “bad air,” which was also known as the night air. It was believed at the time that the plague was spread through “bad air.” This was called the miasma theory. This wasn’t just to counteract the bad smells of rotting corpses and human excrement the concoction inside of the masks was for something else, something that you will probably find rather crazy. Jammed into the long beak of the masks were different flowers, perfumes, and exotic substances. Lorme described the shape of the mask as needing to be “half a foot long, shaped like a beak, filled with perfume with only two holes, one on each side near the nostrils, but that can suffice to breathe and carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the herbs enclosed further along in the beak.” Inside the plague doctor mask
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