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During the Great Plague in 17th century London, people believed the disease was caused by bad air and tried to combat it with smoking, burning sulphur, perfume, and flowers. There were also expensive and unscrupulous cures, such as a powder made from unicorn horns.
Had you been alive in London in the mid-1600s, you wouldn’t have known what was causing the Great Plague, which wiped out 100,000 residents, nearly a quarter of the city’s population. You wouldn’t have known that the bacterium Yersinia pestis was responsible, or that it was spread by infected fleas. Like many, you may have believed that there was something bad about that murderous air, something you hoped could be defeated by tobacco smoke. One of the many myths circulating at the time encouraged people to smoke to stay healthy. At Eton College, smoking became a requirement and offenders were severely punished if caught not smoking. Other methods of combating allegedly stale air: burning “sulphurous sulphur” (the recommendation of the College of Physicians), wearing perfume and surrounding yourself with scented flowers.
Other potential cures for the Great Plague:
There was no shortage of alleged cures, some of them expensive and unscrupulous, such as a miraculous powder purported to come from unicorn horns.
When money changed hands in a market, it was placed in a bowl of vinegar, so the shopkeeper didn’t have to handle it directly.
Some doctors advised wearing a good luck charm and many others wanted nothing to do with their infected patients.
