Plague Doctor Treats Coronavirus

[stardragon]

"When will I get better?" "Today, tomorrow, maybe never." Pre-Industrial medicine in a nutshell.

[thabomuso]

This was hilarious and I laughed out loud after a while. What makes it so much funnier is that I know since I studied history at the university and one of the courses dealt with medicine during the Middle Ages and Antiquity, is that not one word from this doctor is made up or exaggerated.

A brilliant combination of a comical sketch and historical information with great accuracy.

[DreadBirate]

The VVitchfinder General vvill destroy this papist sorcerer!

[tifforo]

Ironically, the plague doctor approach, which was based on preventing inhaling "miasma" in the air that supposedly spread the illness, would have worked pretty well against covid. It wasn't very effective against bubonic, which was spread by small animal bites and bodily fluids, but covid, spreads primarily through particles in the air. There has been continued controversy over whether it is mainly carried in larger droplets that fall to the ground quickly or is a truly airborne virus that spreads through smaller aerosol particles that remain in the air for a long time, but either way, Black Death era protocols would have worked better against it than that did against bubonic.

[thenewrussianguy]

Good to see SCP-049 is still getting work in these troubling times...

[justineberlein]

So who will deliver this Papist sorcerer up to the Magistrate in the shire in which he dwelleth?

[LesHaskell]

Old English is definitely the best font, especially at high speed.

[Gravelgratious]

The ending is the American experience of medical care.

[Sturmdude]

As an American, $5384 sounds pretty cheap to talk to a doctor and receive treatment in this country.

[zacharykelly]

5, 384$!? Where the Hell did I put my Plague Doctor Mask?!

[mikeoxsmal]

The last part got me good. Keep up the good work man

[goodomens]

The answer is clear, he has ghosts in blood he should do cocaine about it.

[BrentWalker]

Was the ending a jab at American"health care"?
Amazing.

[charleshalcomb]

The "Have you seen any demons wearing human guises" bit made me think the doctor was meant to be a demon

[andrewpauley]

Really, really funny. Comedy gold!

Still, I see many comments lambasting pre-modern medicine, and while that may be fair, I think it's overstated.

1. The mask was an early modern invention. I think the earliest examples come from the 16th century.

2. Blood letting was done, but it was not done willy-nilly. There were Barber surgeons who knew which spots to cut, and which spots not to.

3. Many of the diagnoses sound strange to our modern ears - and much of it was strange - but still I don't think bloodletting for a simple cough is quite accurate. Still, the usage of humoral theory in the video was quite funny. But while it's ridiculous to us, and it could even potentially be dangerous then, it wasn't ill-informed and in some ways it even worked. Though, a diagnosis depended on the doctor's training. If it were Hildegard of Bingen, I think you'd be in better hands. Still, I'm sure there were plague doctors who did exactly what was shown in the video.

4. If you had some sort of sore, leeches would have actually been used to good effect to reduce swelling. Same with maggots and infected limbs.

5. There would have been a collaboration between apothecaries, physicians, and baraber surgeons.

6. Honey was also used as an antiseptic with bandages. There's evidence stores of honey carried during military campaigns were for injuries and not strictly for food.

7. Obviously, during the black death many regular medieval medical practices went by the wayside. The black death completely tore down many institutions, and so many plague doctors would not have had much training. People just did not know how to prepare for such a pandemic. These medieval remedies in the video definitely happened, but they were not completely representative of medieval medicine and care as a whole.

I recommend Winston Black's work for more info. Or just look up articles and podcasts on Medievalists.net . Danielle Cybulskie also has a good book out called "Life in Medieval Europe: Fact and Fiction." It is more general and pop history, but good info. Winston Black has a similar book out called, "The Middle Ages: Facts and Fictions." He goes more into the historiography of the myths about the Middle Ages. I've read good things about Carole Rawcliff's work, "Urban Bodies." I think she argues Medieval towns were not as dirty as we like to think. Certainly not as dirty as the Early Modern Era. "The Trotula, " edited by Monica Green has good info, too.

Again, this is still comedy gold. I think you are probably aware of these things, but I could tell by the comments others were not.

Great video!

(Side note: you know way more about Puritans and the Confederacy than I do. Love your videos debunking the Lost Cause myths! And actually, just love your videos in general!)

[JL-vtuo]

we need more Plague Doctor videos sir. That was amazing!

[ericr]

Wait a second, I see the shadow of a ceiling fan behind the "good doctor". This is just so historically inaccurate. I'll bet the "patient" has air conditioning too!

[dorkmax]

3:31 Today, Tomorrow, maybe never.

You got that straight from HBO's Rome! I enjoyed the homage though. And lets be real, that Roman surgeon was still way more scientific than this plague doctor

[coreygraham]

Sounds like my physician in crusader kings 2

[nathandecrom]

1/10 does not beat the patient with the doctor stick