2-991-128 - Heritage Imagined/Heritage Images

AI IMAGE - A plague doctor, 17th century, (2023). Physician who treated victims of bubonic plague, wearing an ankle-length overcoat and a bird-like beak mask. The mask was filled with herbs and spices (commonly lavender), in an attempt to purify the air. It was believed that good smells would 'cancel out' the disease. These 'doctors' were not usually experienced physicians or surgeons, instead being volunteers, young or second-rate physicians. They rarely succeeded in curing patients, instead serving to record death tolls and the number of infected people for demographic purposes.