It kind of goes with the name of the deck, really - the use of the plague doctor image. I did a little Wikipedia reading on it and it's actually quite an interesting subject. Since in times of plague it was believed that "bad air" was the cause of the illness, the "beak" mask was used as a sort of primitive gas mask, with air holes at the bottom and straw mixed with aromatic spices, flowers, vinegar sponges, etc. were stuffed into the middle to act as a primitive (and entirely ineffective) filtration device. The air may have smelled better (or more vinegary) but it did nothing to keep the germs away - something people of the era didn't know existed. Medical doctors were often NOT used as plague doctors - the attrition rate of plague doctors was EXTREMELY high, and people with absolutely no medical training were often hired to take the position, lured by payments several times that of what a regular physician would earn. Furthermore, they were hired by the local governments and thus ministered to the wealthy as well as the poor. That stick they carried was not so much used to beat away plague-infected people as it was for examinations and the removal of a patient's or corpse's clothing - supposedly they could even detect a pulse using one.
Oh, hell - there's a lot more, just go look it up! I'm too tired to type it all here.
I'm hoping the face imagery is equally as suited to the title.
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