A plague doctor was a medical physician who treated victims of the bubonic plague. During epidemics, they were hired by towns where the plague had taken hold. Their task, besides taking care of people with the plague, was to record the number of deaths. Some plague doctors wore a special costume, invented by Charles de L’Orme in 1630, The protective suit consisted of an overcoat, a mask with glass eye openings and a beak-shaped nose filled with aromatic items. The masks were designed to protect them from putrid air, which (according to the miasmatic theory of disease) was seen as the cause of infection. Plague doctors would also commonly carry a cane to examine the patients without the need to make direct contact them.