vinaigrette
Back in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and even nineteenth centuries, wealthy Europeans carried around small silver boxes called “vinaigrettes,” which were used to store sponges soaked in vinegar. They held these vinaigrettes—some of which had perforated lids—under their noses to mask the smells of garbage and sewage when they passed through the often-filthy streets.
Vinegar—and wine—have long been believed to do more than mask smells. From the time of ancient Greece, people have drunk wine to ward off infectious diseases. “Four Thieves Vinegar” (or vinaigre des quatre voleurs), has long been believed to have special disease-preventing powers. You can still find it in France. According to this article in the British Medical Journal, the garlicky vinegar originated back in 1721, when four condemned criminals were released from prison during an epidemic of plague in Marseilles. They were enlisted to dig graves for the highly infectious corpses. According to the story, while so many gravediggers succumbed to plague, the four thieves managed to remain healthy, despite prolonged exposure to the dead and dying. In exchange for their release, they agreed to reveal their secret: they drank a daily concoction of garlic mashed into vinegar.
It’s interesting to speculate what might have saved them. The garlic could have repelled the fleas that vectored the plague. But the vinegar may also have helped kill off the plague bacillus.