Chapter 710: Terrifying Medical Skill
Joseph immediately massaged his temples.
If he didn't know Perna was kind-hearted, he might have thought she was trying to murder someone.
After Perna finished speaking, she realized her foolishness—alcohol could choke someone half to death if swallowed, and if it entered the lungs, it would truly be fatal.
"No, no, that won't do..." she muttered, shaking her head.
Royal Physician Grousset cautiously suggested, "Your Highness, if all other methods fail, perhaps we should try bloodletting..."
"Absolutely not!" Joseph and Perna exclaimed in unison.
"Wait," Perna suddenly remembered something, "we still have a method we haven't tried!"
Joseph tilted his head. "You mean?"
"Your Highness, I recall you saying that 'antibiotics' are used to eliminate bacteria in the body?"
Perna leaned closer and whispered, "I heard my father say that some have already been synthesized."
Joseph was instantly overjoyed. "You mean... 'Type I Antibiotic'?"
The so-called "Type I Antibiotic" was the research codename for Penicillin in France.
"There are about 5 grams," Perna nodded, then added nervously, "Oh, I overheard it by accident, Father didn't leak it..."
"It's alright," Joseph said, patting her hand, then turned to Eman. "Please prepare a carriage to take Camelia to the Paris Pharmaceutical Factory."
The Paris Pharmaceutical Factory was the workshop Joseph had originally acquired for Lamarck, though its scale had now expanded more than tenfold.
Officially, the factory produced medical preparations like "Crown Prince's Blessing," "Tocopherol," and "disinfecting alcohol." However, its core was the most advanced pharmaceutical laboratory in all of Europe, led by Dr. Lamarck and dedicated to researching Penicillin.
Forty minutes later.
Several carriages, under the watchful eyes of the royal guards responsible for security, passed through three gates and entered the most mysterious courtyard on the north side of the pharmaceutical factory.
Dr. Lamarck, sporting dark circles under his eyes, rushed over upon hearing that the Crown Prince had arrived.
Joseph didn't wait for him to bow before immediately asking:
"Dr. Lamarck, I heard Perna say that the laboratory has 5 grams of 'Type I Antibiotic'?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Lamarck replied, a hint of pride in his expression. "It's the factory's output over one year and five months."
Joseph secretly sighed. The production was indeed a bit too low.
One should know, this laboratory consumed 150,000 francs in funding each year.
The cost of each gram of Penicillin was nearly 30,000 francs!
He then wondered, "What about the production from the first two years?"
The laboratory had been operational for three years, yet only had one and a half years' worth of output.
Lamarck said somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, before last August, only 9 grams were produced here in total. All of it was used for efficacy testing."
Joseph immediately realized something. "So, last August, you..."
Lamarck smiled and nodded. "We cultivated high-yield strains, Your Highness, thanks to your marvelous Genetics Theory."
'Your "high-yield" strains aren't exactly high-yield,' Joseph mused inwardly, 'but this is still a historic breakthrough.'
Camelia's cough echoed from the stretcher behind him.
Joseph quickly said, "Dr. Lamarck, Camelia's lungs are infected, and her condition is extremely dangerous. I want to treat her with 'Type I Antibiotic'."
Lamarck raised a hand, felt Camelia's forehead, then pressed against her neck, silently counting her pulse.
Perna added, "Her temperature was six degrees before we left, Father. She's been intermittently feverish for half a month already."
Dr. Lamarck frowned and said to Joseph, "Your Highness, judging by Mademoiselle Delvaux's condition, the current supply of medicine is certainly not enough.
"According to our previous experiments on rabbits, a 2-kilogram rabbit requires 0.6 grams to effectively suppress pneumonia. Estimating based on Mademoiselle Delvaux's weight, about 1.5 grams should be sufficient."
Joseph took a deep breath and said, "Let's try our best."
He remembered that animals required larger doses than humans; his former mentor's 25-kilogram golden retriever, when it fell ill, needed more medicine than he did.
"Very well, Your Highness." Dr. Lamarck nodded solemnly, then instructed an assistant nearby, "Clear Room 105 and prepare for surgery!"
Joseph found it somewhat odd. Why would they need surgery just to administer a bit of Penicillin? But he quickly reasoned that Dr. Lamarck might simply be using imprecise terminology, so he didn't dwell on it.
Twenty minutes later.
Dr. Lamarck and three assistants put on their masks, then carefully took out the precious Penicillin from a box and meticulously measured the dosage.
Afterwards, Dr. Lamarck drew a scalpel and took Camelia's arm.
Joseph, who was observing nearby, immediately had a bad feeling and quickly spoke up to stop him. "Dr. Lamarck, what are you doing?"
Lamarck stated confidently, "Your Highness, through repeated experimentation, I've found that administering the 'Type I Antibiotic' via intravenous injection is more effective than enemas."
Joseph automatically filtered out the word "enemas" and asked, "If it's intravenous injection, why are you holding a scalpel?"
Before Lamarck could answer, Perna pointed to a quill cannula on a nearby tray and explained, "Your Highness, the doctor will make an incision in the patient's vein and insert the quill cannula through the opening."
She then pointed to a yellow "bladder" held by another assistant. "The medicine is placed in a pig's bladder, and then squeezed into the patient's body through the other end of the quill cannula."
Joseph's face turned green. No wonder Lamarck had mentioned surgery; this was how they injected medicine!
It was then that he remembered: he had seemingly never seen doctors of this era use a Syringe.
He whispered to Perna, "So, there's no such thing as a Syringe yet, right?"
"A Syringe?"
"It's a tool that uses a needle to inject medicine into a patient's body."
Perna's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No."
In fact, the world's first medical Syringe wouldn't be invented for another half-century.
Joseph looked at the small spoonful of Penicillin powder in Lamarck's hand—that was Camelia's single dose—and recalled his past life's intravenous drips, where the powder in the vial was far less when nurses mixed antibiotics.
He immediately understood.
If Lamarck proceeded this way, the incision would constantly bleed, washing a lot of the medicine out of the body. A lot of the medicine would also inevitably remain in that pig's bladder.
The required dosage would surely increase drastically!
"Please wait a moment, Dr. Lamarck," Joseph raised his hand to signal. "I know of a tool that can deliver medicine into the human body more effectively: a Syringe."
Before long, Lamarck and the others looked at the sketch of the Syringe Joseph had drawn, unable to hide their shock, and repeatedly nodded in praise:
"To be able to deliver medicine into a patient's body like this? It's truly ingenious!"
"The blood loss should be very minimal."
"With such a tool, almost anyone could rival the finest doctors!"
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