The reason why they’re shaped like that is because “plague doctors” used to stuff flowers and herbs into the ‘beak’ so they wouldn’t have to smell dead bodies all the time.
This had an unintended side effect of protecting against what doctors thought was miasma (bad air).
Eventually they realised plague doctors weren’t getting sick. They thought what was getting them sick was the bad smells.
You have worded your comment as if miasma is an actual phenomenon and that the masks had a side-effect protecting against it, when it was precisely because of the belief in the pseudoscientifical idea of miasma which made them wear the masks.
I accidentally posted without doing a proper proof read lol.
Fixed it.
In any case, its metaphorically true that the sickness was caused by ‘bad air’. It’s fascinating that they were so close to understanding it as a function, if not the reality.
How effective were those anti-plague bird mask and who the fuck cares those are awesome I want one!
Their history is pretty interesting.
The reason why they’re shaped like that is because “plague doctors” used to stuff flowers and herbs into the ‘beak’ so they wouldn’t have to smell dead bodies all the time.
This had an unintended side effect of protecting against what doctors thought was miasma (bad air).
Eventually they realised plague doctors weren’t getting sick. They thought what was getting them sick was the bad smells.
You have worded your comment as if miasma is an actual phenomenon and that the masks had a side-effect protecting against it, when it was precisely because of the belief in the pseudoscientifical idea of miasma which made them wear the masks.
I accidentally posted without doing a proper proof read lol.
Fixed it.
In any case, its metaphorically true that the sickness was caused by ‘bad air’. It’s fascinating that they were so close to understanding it as a function, if not the reality.
They are available and are uncomfortable but totally worth it.