
The Strange Costumes of the Plague Doctors - BerislavLopac
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/the-strange-costumes-of-plague-doctors.html
======
mumblemumble
An interesting counterpoint I came across recently
:[https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2020/08/01/plague-
doctors-...](https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2020/08/01/plague-doctors-the-
last-word/)

Long story short: Most plague doctors did _not_ dress like this. The beak
masks may have existed, but the usual plague doctor headgear was something
that wouldn't go over nearly so well at a cosplay meeting.

~~~
ViViDboarder
Is it really a counterpoint if it’s actually one of the points made in the
article?

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subsubzero
I like this article alot. I love archaic health ideas and what older cultures
did to prevent and understand ailments.

stuff like humors[1] or why a barbershop pole is red/white/blue[2]

[1] -
[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare/fourhumors.ht...](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare/fourhumors.html)

[2] - [https://www.rd.com/article/barber-pole-
history/](https://www.rd.com/article/barber-pole-history/)

------
blackhaz
I need this. Imagine the power of the appearance of a smoldering beak, and the
stick - to prevent those people who ignore isolation from approaching! Bow to
the Plague Doctors of 17th century.

~~~
fhsm
> and the stick ...

2m staff

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voidmain
Modern particulate filters are pleated: you take a thin filter material that
is effective at blocking particles but hard to get air through, and then fold
a bunch of it up in a small space to increase the surface area and decrease
the pressure drop required for air to flow through it. If you don't have a
suitably thin material or don't have this technique, increasing the surface
area by, say, making it into a big cone would probably also work.

The miasma theory isn't quite right, but it could conceivably have provided a
half decent rubric for designing a working particle filter: at least some
unpleasant smells are carried by particles. (Burning incense inside the mask
is an example of where this theory might lead you off course.)

------
nabla9
Since covid-19 mostly transmits trough droplets (> 5 um) that are heavier than
aerosols, reducing droplet speed and the dose people are exposed to could make
all the difference.

I wonder visor opening downwards would provide better protection for most
cases and make it more comfortable to wear. That kind of prolonged nose could
be designed to slow down the speed of droplets that end and exit. If they were
made from hard material they would be easier to clean. (optionally you could
add filter with larger volume to make it even more effective)

Surgical- and cloth mask provide low protection to the wearer but give
significant protection to others. But people don't wear them properly. You
should trim your beard to get good protection, for example.

~~~
xenonite
> "mostly transmits through droplets"

I think it is too early to make such a claim. If no protection is applied
(visor/mask) and no physical distancing is performed, I assume the claim might
hold up.

The SARS-CoV-2 aerosol route is still relevant, however. The masks are able to
block this a bit while the visors are barely helpful. Hence I wouldn't say
that the visors are a solution.

~~~
nabla9
The fact that masks provide protection is evidence that aerosols are not
significant transmission route.

Surgical and cloth masks are not relevant to aerosol question. They work
trough gravity sedimentation and inertial impaction.

For smaller particles you need diffusion, and electrostatic attraction. In
other words N95 mask that fits well.

~~~
jdkrorkf
Pretty much all surgical masks contain a middle melt-blown layer, ie: the
exact diffussion/electrostatic layer used in N95 masks.

------
jack_pp
Interesting that some science deniers in our modern times use scents in the
form of essential oils to fend off or even treat diseases.

Are there no written records testifying the effectiveness of such suits?

~~~
saltcured
Many of the traditional oils do have observable effects, which is why they
were selected and became traditions in the first place. They can have
immediate and obvious effects on circulation, the sinuses, the bronchii, etc.
Some may even have other medicinal aspects to manage inflammation.

However, these observable effects are often more about managing symptoms and
perception than with having any protective or curative mechanism. This is
where the you run into problems. A reduction in symptoms does not necessarily
correlate well with a reduction in pathogens or other disease processes, so
you might have the same (or worse) outcome as without treatment, or might put
yourself into risky situations with a false sense of security...

------
pulse7
It's a kind of COVID-19 dress/cover, but with prolonged nose... maybe for
better breathing...

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nanomonkey
I feel like this is going to be _the_ go to Halloween costume of the year.

~~~
DannyB2
"Medieval Plague Doctor Mask & Costume"

[https://www.instructables.com/id/Plague-Doctor-
Costume/](https://www.instructables.com/id/Plague-Doctor-Costume/)

In order to make Halloween scary this year, children are ordered to NOT wear
masks.

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mistersquid
This subject is also featured in a MetaFilter front page post (FPP) titled
"The 'Science' Behind the Plague Doctor Costume" on the site MetaFilter from
2015. [0] The FPP links to a Mental Floss article on the "Anatomy of 14th
Century Bubonic Plague Hazmat Suits". [1]

What struck and haunted me about the "science" of Bubonic plague equipment was
how so very close those cultures were to understanding the transmission of
many diseases (though, ironically, not Bubonic Plague) and the Germ Theory of
disease itself.

Quoting (in part) what I wrote then:

> Daniel Defoe's _Journal of the Plague Year_ published in 1722 [2] comes just
> before Pasteur's experiments confirming the Germ Theory of disease and it,
> too, is tantalizingly close about the empirical cause of the spread of
> Bubonic plague. [3]

Humans have come quite a ways toward understanding the science of infectious
diseases, but given the many ways diseases propagate, one can't help but
wonder how close we are to our 14th-century forbears when looked from the
vantage of what we may know in 28th century. (That is, 14th century : 21st
century :: 21st century : 28th century)

[0] [https://www.metafilter.com/154520/The-Science-Behind-the-
Pla...](https://www.metafilter.com/154520/The-Science-Behind-the-Plague-
Doctor-Costume)

[1] [http://mentalfloss.com/article/49217/anatomy-14th-century-
bu...](http://mentalfloss.com/article/49217/anatomy-14th-century-bubonic-
plague-hazmat-suits)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year)

[3] [https://www.metafilter.com/154520/The-Science-Behind-the-
Pla...](https://www.metafilter.com/154520/The-Science-Behind-the-Plague-
Doctor-Costume#6277119)

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speedgoose
So much for openculture dot com when they serve a forbidden error.

