Plague doctors recognized that buboes tended to form in the groin, armpits and neck, and saw them as evidence of the body expelling humors from the nearest major organs: the liver, heart and brain ...

During the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Italy in the 1650s, it was believed that the doctors taking care of the sick would dawn these masks in addition to long garb and wide-brimmed leather hats.

Plague doctors filled their masks with theriac, a compound of more than 55 herbs and other components like viper flesh powder, cinnamon, myrrh, and honey.

Plague doctors would use a staff to point out buboes and other indications of plague on patients, without touching. While the state of medicine in the 1600s—a century that saw a resurgence in ...

Despite its fearsome appearance, the plague doctor’s costume — the “personal protective equipment” of the Middle Ages — had a noble purpose. It was intended to enable physicians to ...