"Skin, the largest organ in the human body. Damage to the skin is often the most visible, most superficial, and most easily noticed of all lesions.
"Diseases manifest on the skin in countless ways. Some are as fleeting as an epiphyllum bloom, while others endure for years without fading; they may be too small to see clearly, or so large one cannot bear to look at them.
"The earliest written records of various skin symptoms may date back to more than a dozen centuries before the Common Era. Even then, people had made simple classifications and records of them, though we will not elaborate on the specifics here.
"When reviewing these early materials, it is not difficult to note that our predecessors had already described certain especially dangerous, potentially fatal skin lesions, naming them 'Lupus'—that is, 'wolf.'
"As for why it was called 'wolf,' we once generally believed it was because the form of these lesions called to mind wounds left by wolf bites, or because they destroyed tissue like a wolf gnawing at its prey.
"But some believe that early 'Lupus' was a broad term, encompassing any ulcerative or necrotic skin lesion that was severe and highly invasive, not necessarily because it resembled a wolf bite in appearance.
"Whatever its evolution, it ultimately gave rise to the term 'lupus' as we know it today, and that name has endured."
The speaker's gaze left the projection screen and drifted over the long table formed from several desks pushed together, searching for a suitable target.
It was terribly hot. The air conditioner seemed to be broken, blowing air without cooling it. A glaring band of light pierced the gap in the heavy curtains, cleaving the screen in two. One half was a blinding white haze, its words impossible to make out,