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In the 17th c, during the bubonic plague in Europe, plague doctors took to wearing a costume to protect them from the miasma or "bad air": a leather or wax-canvas garment, crystal glasses, and a snout or bird beak, containing aromatic spices dried flowers, or a vinegar sponge.
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1) Jan van Grevenbroeck (1731-1807), Venetian doctor during the time of the plague. Pen, ink and watercolor on paper. 2) Black-and-white copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr Beak], a plague doctor in 17th-c Rome, ca. 1656
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1) IJsbrand van Diemerbroeck, Dutch plague doctor 2) Satirical engraving by Johann Melchior Füssli of a doctor of Marseilles clad in cordovan leather equipped with a nose-case packed with plague-repelling smoking material. With the wand he is to feel the pulse
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