Prevention Gallery

Plague doctor, France, 18th century

Plague doctor. Artwork of the clothing used by doctors during plague outbreaks. This design, though in use much earlier, is from The Great Plague of Marseilles, France, in 1720. The plague (or Black Death) affected Europe from the 1340s to the 1700s. It is thought to have been bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and spread by fleas on rats. This outbreak, one of the largest in Europe in the early 18th century, killed over 100, 000 people. The costume's beaked bronze mask contained aromatic herbs. This reduced the smell for the doctor and the limited airflow through holes in the beak reduced exposure to "bad air". Gloves and a heavily oiled undergarment and cloak were also designed to reduce exposure. 19th century artwork by Daumier, published in Devils, Drugs and Doctors (London, 1929)

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

WW2 Poster -- Typhus, How Is It Spread?

Information poster on typhus and how it is spread. Colour lithograph, British Army anti-typhus medical information poster, after 2nd Lieutenant Stacey Hopper. The poster poses questions, with illustrated answers, relating to the danger and prevention of Typhus and the lice that carry it. It was aimed, in particular, at troops on active service in Italy during World War Two. AL.63 was a DDT-based anti-louse powder used during World War Two to prevent infestation. Date: 1944

© The National Army Museum / Mary Evans Picture Library

Seeking to arrest the dread disease: ridding the infected district of creatures likely to

Seeking to arrest the dread disease: ridding the infected district of creatures likely to carry plague-microbes. Illustrative diagram in The Illustrated London News showing how a major cull of rats, hares and rabbits took place in Suffolk in 1910, after it was discovered that plague-carrying rats may have been the cause of deaths from pneumonia among four people in Freston, Suffolk. Dead of dying rats and hares were found to be carrying the plague microbes. The cull was done by many methods including shooting and ferreting. One of the sketches shows a man using a long pole to place poisoned food well within rats holes. Date: 1910

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans