Later plague doctors would have also been very familiar with mixing up a common treatment called Four Thieves Vinegar. Plague doctors also had something called theriac in their arsenal, which was a complicated syrup made from up to 80 different ingredients. (It wasn't really, but that's never stopped anyone before.) Other options for the very wealthy or the merchant class might involve grinding emeralds into a powder, mixing them with food or a drink, and serving that up along with a dose of mercury and/or arsenic, which, yes, was deadly. If you were a plague doctor, chances were good that you were doing it because no one else wanted to or because you weren't quite good enough to have other career options.Īccording to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, plague doctors might offer their wealthiest customers a powder made from ground unicorn horn. So, what was going on with those people who did step up and apply to become community plague doctors? (Yes, those who were interested tended to apply for the job.) Generally, there were a few types of people who went this grisly route: There were medical professionals who weren't quite good enough to get a job elsewhere, or there were doctors just starting out, who wanted to get experience and to build a name for themselves. That quarantine lasted not just during the plague but afterward, too: Plague doctors would remain on the fringes of society even after the danger had passed. While they were carrying out their duties, they were forbidden from interacting with healthy members of the community and could only associate with the sick. Who were these people? Most plague doctors were hired by a town or village to care only for the people in that town. The solution was to hire a plague doctor.
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