Dear Journal,
What a day it was! Today I attended five patients alongside the physician, all who were infected with the pestilence. It started in Southern Ukraine, and spread itself all the way to here in Messina, Sicily. The good-for-nothing people who brought it here were those awful Italian traders. How I wish to get revenge!
I have so much to do lately because there are so many victims dying of the pestilence. I believe the reason is because of the unsanitary living conditions and dirty habits. Although it can't be helped for the peasants, the noble families should at least be a little bit cleaner! All unwanted things are thrown onto the streets: liquid, food, and wood all. I am also busy because the physician won't ever touch the body. I already have given up my second jobs, being a part-time barber and dentist.
Before I had to tend to all the victims of the pestilence, I had a one-job-a-day life. If there was a problem, I checked the four humors of the patient. If there was too much air (sanguine), the patient would be jolly. If there was too much water (plegm), he would be sluggish and lazy. If there was too much earth (melacholy) he would be gloomy and sad. If there was too much fire (choler), he would be violent. Those were the observations of the famous philosophers, Hippocrates and Galen. I am always with the physician when we go to house calls; the main reason is because he won't touch the body. The church told him that whoever touches the body wouldn't go to heaven, but if my job helps other people, I will continue doing it.