The year is 1656. Your body is wracked by violent chills. Your head pounds, your muscles are too weak to sit up, and you feel like rancid, hard-boiled eggs are squeezing out of your neck and armpits. In your feverish state, you see a strange-looking man approach, his face obscured by a beak-like mask, his body covered from head to toe. He examines you and even without seeing his face, you know the diagnosis: you have the plague.
這年是1656。 你的身體因為很冷而顫抖著。 你的頭像是被打過, 肌肉虛弱到坐不起來, 你感覺好像一顆顆壞掉的水煮蛋 要擠出你的脖子跟腋下。 在你發燒的期間,有位 長相奇怪的男人走向你, 他的臉被一個像鳥喙的面具罩著, 並且從頭到腳都被包覆著。 他上下審視你, 即使不看他的臉, 你也會知道診斷結果: 你得了瘟疫。
The plague stands out as one of the most terrifying and destructive diseases in human history. It swept across large parts of Afro- Eurasia in three separate pandemics starting in the 6th, 14th, and 19th centuries; killed tens of millions of people, and had— in the best of cases— about a 40% survival rate.
這個瘟疫是人類歷史上, 最恐怖且最具摧毀性的疾病。 它橫掃了大部分的歐亞非大陸 分別在 6 世紀、14 世紀、 19世紀 導致數以萬計的人死亡, 而且在最好的情況下 有 40% 的存活率。
The European plague doctor, with his beaked mask and wizard-like robes,
歐洲的瘟疫醫生, 都會戴鳥喙形狀的面具
is one of the images most popularly associated with plague today. He’s often found in books and films about the 14th century pandemic known as the Black Death. The only problem is that’s about as accurate as placing a modern surgeon at the court of Louis the 14th in Versailles. The confusion is understandable though— the Black Death had several aftershocks, including a series of devastating outbreaks in Western Europe during the 17th century. This is when the iconic plague doctor actually emerged on the scene.
和穿著像巫師的長袍, 這是我們對瘟疫最具象徵性的印象。 他常常在有關 14 世紀 傳染病的書籍以及影片中出現, 也就是我們所知道的黑死病。 唯一的問題是這就是像 把現代的外科醫生放在 路易十四的凡爾賽宮裡。 這個困惑是可以理解的, 黑死病有很多餘波, 例如在 17 世紀西歐一系列摧殘性的爆發。 這就是最具象徵性的 瘟疫醫生真正出現的時刻。
First described in the early 17th century, the outfit consisted of a hood with crystal eyepieces and a beak filled with a pungent combination of herbs and compounds. This could include cinnamon, pepper, turpentine, roast copper, and powdered viper flesh. This recipe was inspired by the famed 2nd century Greco-Roman physician Galen, and was thought to ward off poisoned air known as miasma. People believed this bad air spread plague after emanating from swamps and sources of decay, such as dead plants or animal carcasses. In earlier centuries, doctors across Europe carried metal pomanders filled with similar mixtures, and it’s possible that the beak evolved as a hands-free alternative.
首先在 17 世紀早期被描述, 他們的外型是戴著水晶眼罩, 還有一個裝滿強刺激性的藥草和化合物的喙嘴。 可能含有肉桂、胡椒、松脂, 焙燒銅、和粉狀的毒蛇肉。 這個配方是來自二世紀的 希臘羅馬有名的醫生蓋倫, 並且被認為是可以 抵禦毒氣,也就是瘴氣。 人們相信這種不好的空氣 從沼澤、腐爛的來源 像是死掉的植物和 動物屍體,會散波瘟疫 早在幾百年前,橫跨歐洲的醫生 攜帶類似混和物的金屬香爐, 喙嘴可能是這個香爐免提的進化。
The rest of the costume, which included an oiled leather robe, boots and gloves, acted as kind of an early hazmat suit, likely designed to block miasma from entering through the skin’s pores. While this shows some basic understanding that plague spread from one place to another, these doctors couldn’t know that, in most cases, the true culprit was a tiny flea transmitting the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, from one person or animal to another. It’s possible that the plague doctor’s outfit may have provided some unintentional protection from flea bites. However, not enough information survives to know whether the costumed doctors fared any better than their ordinarily robed counterparts.
剩下的服裝,包含塗油的 皮革大袍、靴子以及手套, 作為一種早期的防疫服, 可能是設計來阻擋瘴進到皮膚毛孔中。 雖然這顯示了當時對瘟疫會傳播 這件事情有一些基本的了解。 在大多數情況下,這些醫生並不知道, 真正的罪魁禍首是一隻 小跳蚤在傳播這個細菌, 鼠疫桿菌,從人或動物 傳播到另一個人或動物。 瘟疫醫生的服裝非常有可能提供了 一些不預期的叮咬從跳蚤的叮咬。 然而,沒有更多存在的資訊知道 穿著這個服裝的醫生表現的 比穿著正常長袍的同行好。
It's no surprise that this bizarre getup has captured popular imagination, despite the fact that its use was limited to a few places in Italy and France during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Even at the time, it was viewed with macabre fascination and occasionally used to mock the ineffective and corrupt practices of some physicians.
這種特殊的造型毫不奇怪地, 吸引了大眾的想像力, 儘管它僅限用在義大利和法國的少數地方 在 17 世紀 和 18 世紀初時。 即使在那時,它也被視為有陰森魅力 並且偶爾用來嘲笑某些沒有效率且腐敗的 作爲的醫生。
Until the 20th century, there was no effective treatment for the plague, but that didn’t stop doctors— costumed or not— from trying. They consulted the works of earlier physicians for guidance, did what they could to fend off miasma, and prescribed a variety of concoctions and antidotes. They also relied on pre-modern medical mainstays. These could include bloodletting, which involved draining (sometimes concerningly large amounts of) blood in an attempt to remove poison or restore the body’s natural balance. Or cupping, where the rim of a heated glass was placed over swollen lymph nodes in hopes of making them burst sooner— a sign, when it occurred naturally, that a plague patient was on the mend. Or— perhaps most painfully— cautery, which involved lancing the lymph nodes with a red-hot poker to release the blackened pus within.
直到 20 世紀,瘟疫沒有任何有效的治療, 但這並沒有阻止醫生 (不管有沒有穿服裝)嘗試。 他們參考了早期醫生的做法作為參考, 並且盡可能地抵禦瘴氣, 並且開了各種調劑藥和解毒劑。 他們還依賴現代化之前的醫藥主流。 這些可能包含放血, 這些可能包含引流(有時候非常大量的)血 為了要去除毒性或是恢復身體自然的平衡。 或是拔罐,把加熱的玻璃邊緣 放在腫脹的淋巴結上, 期望它可以快點破裂。 當它自然發生的時候,代表 這個瘟疫的病人快要治好了。 又或者,可能是最痛的,燒灼。 用燒熱的火鉗在淋巴結上畫圈 擠出裡面發黑的膿液。
A lot has changed since their times. Modern medicine has given us the means to quickly identify bacterial as well as viral threats and to effectively mobilize against them. We also have access to technologies like test kits, masks to deter the spread of respiratory viruses, and vaccines; and we conduct robust trials to make sure they’re safe and effective. But some things don’t change: we still depend on the courage and compassion of medical professionals who voluntarily risk their lives against an invisible attacker to help and comfort those who need it most.
現在已經改變非常多了。 現代的藥給予我們更多方法去快速診斷 是細菌還是病毒傳染 並且可以快速地消滅它們。 我們也有一些科技的產物像是檢測劑, 口罩去抵禦呼吸道感染的病毒,還有疫苗, 而且我們還可以做一些強而有力的測試 去檢查它們是否安且有效。 但有些東西不會改變: 我們仍然在依賴那些自願冒著生命危險, 對抗那些隱形的病菌, 並且去幫助那些需要幫助的人,