Charles De Lorme (1584-1678) was a French medical doctor who practiced in several regions across Europe during the 17th century. He was the primary doctor of Marie de Medici. He graduated from the University of Montpellier in 1607. He first came to Paris after graduation

to practice medicine under the watchful eye of his father, until he was ready to practice as a regular doctor on his own. There are no records of his marriages, except that he married for the third time at the age of 78. This wife died within a year.

Charles was the chief physician of three French kings, Henri IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV. De Lorme is credited for having created the costume of the plague doctor. The costume included a beak filled with perfumes and hat and vestments made of Levantine leather,

He described an outfit that included a coat covered in scented wax, breeches connected to boots, a tucked-in shirt, and a hat and gloves made of goat leather. Plague doctors also carried a rod that allowed them to poke (or fend off) victims.

It was intended to protect the doctor from miasma. In the times before the germ theory of disease, physicians believed that the plague spread through poisoned air that could create an imbalance in a person’s humors, or bodily fluids.

Plague doctors filled their masks with theriac, a compound of more than 55 herbs and other components like viper flesh powder, cinnamon, myrrh, and honey. De Lorme thought the beak shape of the mask would give the air sufficient time to be suffused by the protective herbs before

it hit plague doctors’ nostrils and lungs. In fact, plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, bacteria that can be transmitted from animals to humans and through flea bites, contact with contaminated fluid or tissue,

and inhalation of infectious droplets from sneezing or coughing people with pneumonic plague. Ultimately, the plague doctors’ outfits—and methods—didn’t make much of a difference.