Thomas Schlich, MD, PhD, McGill University Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, and Bruno Strasser, PhD, Professor at University of Geneva and affiliate at Yale University, have co-authored a new book, The Mask, A History of Breathing Bad Air, exploring how our identities and beliefs shape the decision to wear a protective face covering.
Having met at Yale, Profs. Schlich and Strasser exchanged email messages in 2020, the year COVID-19 struck, continuing their discussion in Zoom sessions, on the prospect of writing a short paper on the history of the disposable mask. That paper appeared in the medical journal, The Lancet. Researching the topic had produced a wealth of information, enough to produce a second paper on the invention of the surgical mask (1896), published in the scholarly journal, Medical History.
“This longer paper was still too short for the story that we now wanted to tell, so we decided to go for a book, one that would be accessible to non-experts too,” Prof. Schlich explains. “In the book, we combined Bruno’s expertise in the history of science (he is also a biologist by training) and my expertise in the history of medicine (I am trained as a doctor).”
The result was a story of how people have tried over the centuries to avoid breathing bad air by wearing protective masks, and what masks show us about the specific societies and environments of the times, Prof. Schlich says. “We were interested in airborne bacteria and viruses, and air pollution in the workplace. We tried to go as far back as possible. What we found is that taking some piece of cloth in front of your mouth or nose to protect yourself mainly from smells, that goes back a long time. You find depictions in old images in churches and old paintings.”
Historical accounts include, for example,19th century Britain, when the air was poor due to industrialization, poor sanitation, and reliance on coal for heating and cooking. Men tended to shun masks because they found them unmanly. However, in China, it was the opposite. Masks were seen as unsuitable for women because they were inelegant. “So, it really depends on when and where you are,” Prof. Schlich notes. “You have all these cultural meanings, this historical baggage, that exists. It’s not a neutral act to wear a mask. Even today on the bus, people will judge you when you wear a mask in some way or other, and that’s always been the case.”
In some cases, people in infected regions didn’t have a choice. For instance, local governments in the United States issued mask-wearing ordinances during the Spanish Flu, 1918 –1919, and again during the 1989-90 influenza season. “In San Francisco people were actually quite enthusiastic about it. But the more time passed, the more people began resisting,” Prof. Schlich says. “As soon as there are mask mandates forcing people to wear masks, it becomes a highly political issue.”
Because the germs causing COVID-19 were airborne, several European countries introduced mandatory face mask rules for public places, as did provincial governments in Canada.
The book also touches on the economics of disposable face masks. The authors found that during the 1960s disposable mask manufacturers were heavily marketing their products to convince doctors to adopt them. Mask makers emphasized convenience and cost savings in their sales pitches, and like other popular disposable products at the time, they caught on. “That was the era when everything became disposable, the advent of the throw-away society”, says Prof. Schlich.
Hardcover and e-Book editions of The Mask, A History of Breathing Bad Air, will be available June 24th.