Why should you be afraid? On the Feelings Accompanying the Epidemic according to Przestrogi i lekarstwa na choroby z zarazy morowego powietrza… by Franciszek Ksawery Ryszkowski

Abstract

The article analyzes the text of one of the many medical handbooks published in Poland in the second half of the 18th century. It concerns emotions and feelings accompanying a person during an epidemic, as well as problems and difficulties that he had to overcome. It also introduces the commonly functioning opinions of doctors about the plague and ways to fight it. The text should also be considered as an attempt to explain the reactions, behaviors and adopting specific attitudes – both of the sick and those managing the specific organization of social life during an epidemic.