University Health Network - Academy of Medicine Collection
Category
Archival Items
Classification
Archival, Images
Accession Number
002050166
Description
A line block reproduction of an etching from the 17th century, with explanatory notes in French, mounted in matte; depicts clothing worn by medics when dealing with the plague; plaque doctor; a black and white print on paper, depicting a person wearing long robes and gloves, the head is round with …
A line block reproduction of an etching from the 17th century, with explanatory notes in French, mounted in matte; depicts clothing worn by medics when dealing with the plague; plaque doctor; a black and white print on paper, depicting a person wearing long robes and gloves, the head is round with a long beak shaped nose and wearing a hat.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Acquired from the Academy of Medicine; source: Sir Edmund Osler (The Sir William Osler Collection).
Material
paper: cream
ink: black
Inscriptions
Written on the front: "Habit des Medecins et autres personnes // qui visitent les Pestiferes. Il est de // mairrqun de leuant, le masque a les yeux // de crystal, et un long nez rempli de parfums."; handwritten on back, "Sir William Oster Collection // Presented by Sir Edmund // Oster, 1911."
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-G Drawings and Prints Binder A, pg. 15a
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Length 21.2 cm x Width 11.8 cm
Condition Remarks
#1: Stable: Front: slight darkening of the paper around all the edge, paper has darkened significantly in a uniform square over the print, two partial tears of the paper to the left of the print and in the upper right corner, there is a small loss on the bottom border of the paper, there are linear partial losses around the print which could be due to a border having been adhered and subsequently removed; back, paper is significantly darker in the area of the print, slight darkening of the paper around the borders, circular adhesive stain in top right corner.
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
File
Reference Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor
Previous #AMP56; L163
Research Facts
A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of bubonic plague during epidemics. These physicians were hired by cities to treat infected patients regardless of income, especially the poor that could not afford to pay.
Plague doctors had a mixed reputation, with some citizens seeing their presence as a warning to leave the area. Some plague doctors were said to charge patients and their families additional fees for special treatments or false cures. In many cases these doctors were not experienced physicians or surgeons; instead, being volunteers, second-rate doctors, or young doctors just starting a career. In one case, a plague doctor was a fruit salesman before his employment as a physician. Plague doctors rarely cured patients; instead serving to record death tolls and the number of infected people for demographic purposes.
In France and the Netherlands, plague doctors often lacked medical training and were referred to as "empirics." Plague doctors were known as municipal or "community plague doctors", whereas "general practitioners" were separate doctors and both might be in the same European city or town at the same time.