There was a small commotion.
This is why… we need local anesthesia.
The problem is that local anesthetics weren't developed until the mid-20th century.
How did they manage before that?
They used cocaine.
- Hmm, your head hurts? Why not try some cocaine?
- Hmm, feeling depressed? Why not try some cocaine?
It's the legacy of Dr. Freud, the father of psychiatry.
That guy was a cocaine master in his youth.
He used so much cocaine that he even learned about its anesthetic effects.
Actually, the reason snorting cocaine doesn't hurt is also due to its local anesthetic effect…
You know how in TV shows like Cops, DEA agents put it near their mouths to check if it's cocaine?
They're not trying to snort it; they're touching it to their gums to see if the sensation disappears.
It's not just that it has a local anesthetic effect; it's just insanely strong.
'But we can't use cocaine…'
First of all, I don't even know if cocaine has been isolated yet.
Or refined?
Wouldn't that be a rather tricky technology?
Well… given that technologies are all over the place in this era, I can't definitively say it doesn't exist.
"Hhh…"
While I was thinking about other things, the IV fluids continued to flow relentlessly into the bodies of the two patients.
There was no need to monitor it intensely now.
Why?
Because our guys are masters at this.
Really…
In some ways, they might be better at it than me.
"Ugh."
Meanwhile, the guy who was found collapsed was vomiting, having diarrhea—it was a complete mess.
Not only that, he was sweating profusely.
His body was also shivering a bit.
Is this really just…
Chills?
Is his body just getting cold?
No, that can't be.
'Potassium loss… Damn it. So that's how they die. That's how the heart stops too.'
Vomiting and having diarrhea means, as you can see, that a lot of something is leaving our bodies.
And the things that leave…
Huh?
There are chunks, but if you break it down finely, it's essentially nutrients.
In cases caused by poison like arsenic, rather than just an illness like cholera, the degree is more severe.
Of course, the stuff that broke out in the Seine was probably even more toxic than I thought, maybe because of the water.
Anyway, you also lose things like electrolytes, and the most fatal one is potassium.
In hospitals, they sometimes just monitor you while giving saline solution…
But that's not what we have, right?
This is just salt water.
NaCl.
There's no K (Potassium)!
"Guys."
"Uh huh. He looks like he's going to die. Should we pray?"
"Three cheers for the Lord?"
At my words, the kindest Alfred and the devout Joseph stepped forward.
They were holding crosses, essential items for doctors of this era.
Actually, rather than any random treatment…
That could be more helpful and comforting.
Because people kept dying whenever you tried to do something.
But not for me.
"Go buy some cabbage."
"Cabbage…?"
"Is this some kind of Joseon shaman thing?"
"Ah… I heard about that JESA. It's something you do for dead people, right?"
Hehe.
You crazy bastards.
Cabbage is a treasure trove of nutrients.
It contains a lot of various good things for the body, and among them, it also contains a lot of potassium.
Bananas would probably be better, but I don't think I've seen any bananas around.
"Just… will you just go buy it if I tell you to?"
"W-well, okay."
"Got it. He's about to do some crazy shit again."
"I'll go buy it."
"You, lie down, man."
Fortunately, when I started getting agitated, everyone started listening.
In the end, only Joseph ran out…
But that was actually good.
We needed to keep making and administering IV fluids; if I were alone, I'd have to do it all myself.
In contrast, with an IV master like Alfred here now, it was inevitably much better.
"Snap out of it! Snap out of it!"
As soon as Joseph brought the cabbage, I crushed it finely and then steeped it.
And I cooled that steeped water well.
Potassium is water-soluble.
It dissolves well.
The problem was that we couldn't just inject this directly into a blood vessel.
If we did that…
"Why are you waking him? Let's just put it in here [the IV]."
"No."
"Why?"
He'd die.
These guys are pure-hearted, so they're curious…
But if you put just anything into a blood vessel because you're curious, the patient will die.
Fortunately, I had a pretext.
I'm not sure if this can be called fortunate.
"Remember what Professor Blundell did before."
"What? That professor does all sorts of things."
"Blood transfusion."
"Ah… that devil's…"
Let me clarify beforehand to avoid misunderstanding: blood transfusion is one of the very few powerful weapons doctors have to save dying people.
However, when done without considering blood types or by haphazardly mixing blood from multiple people, it becomes, as Joseph said, a devil's something.
"Yes. And he put in many other things too."
"He put in… many things."
"It's lucky he at least put it into dogs."
"Right. But almost all of them died, didn't they?"
Blundell is a man of great will.
He does all sorts of things to save people…
If someone was dying, he basically tried every imaginable thing.
Like mixing his own blood and his assistants' blood and giving it.
In a way, it's an extremely noble endeavor.
Isn't it?
Giving your own blood?
'When it's not urgent, he does various experiments…'
Would there be any animal rights groups?
It's an era without human rights, let alone animal rights.
Moreover, there are so many stray dogs; if you went around the block once, you'd catch a whole bunch.
Of course, it was impossible with just Blundell's strength or skill; he needed Liston's help.
Anyway, he put beer and other things into the blood vessels of those captured dogs, and many really died.
Surprisingly, among the things he tried injecting was also vegetable steeped water.
"It died. Back then. Even a dog died, you think a human can withstand it?"
"Aha… Then?"
"We have to try feeding it to him first."
"I see. But this…"
Actually, some did survive.
Living things are stronger than you think.
A 19th-century human probably isn't weaker than a dog.
Looking closely, this bastard is the one who was fine even after drinking Thames water.
'Should I just give it to him…?'
No, no.
No matter what, I'm a 21st-century person, right?
I shouldn't do something when I can clearly see the bad outcome.
Well…
Saying this now, after he's already conducted numerous experiments…
"Pyeong? Are you putting that in [the IV]?"
"No, no!"
Whew.
I almost unconsciously put it into the IV.
I barely resisted Satan's temptation and slapped the patient's cheek.
Saying it like this makes it sound like I'm doing something terribly bad, but that's not it.
What is the advantage of an IV?
It's that we can give the desired amount of water and the components dissolved in it, even if the patient is unconscious.
There's also the advantage of knowing exactly how much water has entered the bloodstream right now…
Anyway, we need to wake this guy up to make him drink this water.
"Hey! Wake up! If you don't wake up, I'll just pour this in [the IV], okay?"
"Wow… devil…"
"Even dogs died…"
Amidst various misunderstandings, the patient barely opened his eyes.
Probably thanks to the fluids he's received so far.
If dehydration is resolved, blood tends to circulate to the head a bit.
"Ugh, ugh. The taste…"
"A Brit complaining about taste. Stop bitching and drink! It's probably better than most soups!"
"Pyeong is insulting our food."
"But it might still work…"
Somehow pushing aside the dejected Alfred and Joseph, I forcefully fed him the cabbage steeped water.
'Yeah, this is right.'
Injecting it via IV…
It doesn't just involve risks like osmotic pressure differences or infection.
Especially with crucial electrolytes like potassium.
You can die because of this potassium.
We don't know the dosage, do we?
But if you eat it by mouth, it has to go through the digestive process to get inside…
And during that process, excessively large amounts are either vomited out or re-excreted.
It's truly a marvelous wonder of the human body.
This is why doctors say if you can eat by mouth, it's healthier than an IV.
"Eat!"
"Ugh. No more…"
"You who shit this much, what do you mean 'no more'!"
"Ugh… Ugh. Ughaa."
"See. Eat."
"Ooooh."
Even as he spoke, he was shitting himself.
Arsenic…
This stuff is really dangerous.
As soon as that thought hit me, I gave new orders.
"Colin."
"Yes."
"Make sure no one enters the lecture hall."
"Ah… Yes."
"And Joseph?"
"Yeah."
"Open all the windows outside."
"Uh… Uh. Right. Is arsenic that dangerous?"
"Yes, it seems so, no matter how you look at it."
"Got it."
There were guys who couldn't resist and were snooping around.
Well…
It's not exactly 'the meantime'; a lot of time had passed.
We had stayed up almost the entire night.
Meanwhile, Colin had almost fully recovered.
When you look at him quietly…
'Pulling teeth, drinking water, he's really tough.'
Did he become a noble because he was born with a strong constitution?
He's such a tough guy it makes you think that.
Plus, he has good hands.
He's crazy about experiments and has good dexterity?
He was born to be a surgeon, that guy too.
"What's going on?"
Liston, who came to work late, visited the ward.
"Colin is blocking the kids? He said he almost died."
"Yes, look at this guy."
"Oh, it's the friend who was fine even after drinking water before. But look at this state. Hmm. Good."
"Yes. Yes?"
Good?
What is this guy saying?
Of course, thanks to the all-night treatment, the patient's condition had improved a lot.
But…
That's compared to the beginning; objectively speaking, it was a mess.
First of all, his pants are covered in shit.
We left them on because we were afraid washing him might contaminate the IV site, so the smell is just…
It's absolutely not because I'm trying to push the scut work onto Joseph, Alfred, or Colin.
"Why do you think we brought that stuff in the first place?"
"That… to see if it contains arsenic…"
"Haha, this friend! If it's that vivid green, it's arsenic! And to find that out, you would have sent it to a chemist."
"Then…?"
Now that you mention it, it is strange.
Why did we line up all that stuff in the lecture hall?
Actually, among those things, dresses and artificial flowers are quite expensive items.
Liston's acquaintances know Liston, so they wouldn't dare take them, but they would come to see and even touch them…
"Huh? By any chance?"
"I did some of those water-feeding experiments before and reflected a bit. We're civilized people too; how long will we keep doing things recklessly like that? The best way… is for them to become test subjects without even knowing it, of course."
"Wow…"
Liston…
This hyung…
He's a real hyung (ace).
His brain is really sharp.
This way, there are no legal issues, and you don't need to feel any pangs of conscience!
Of course, in most cases, even if arsenic is poison, people wouldn't think processed items like these are poisonous too…
But these are at least medical students.
Ignorance is a sin.
"And just as I hoped… no, did I say hoped? Haha! Just as I predicted, we got a patient. The symptoms are similar to the person lying in the hotel room."
"Yes, yes. That's right."
"Probably… even so, we can't immediately ban the use of wallpaper. But we can at least sound a warning bell for the general public. It could also help our police friends."
"Then we can continue to get free corpses."
"That's the crux of it."
"Haha."
"Hehe."