Medicine no longer existed
Lamarck continued, "I have seen people growing Potato in the northeastern regions, such as Metz, Lorraine, and Besançon. Some villages there even use Potato as a staple food. As for other places... the Toulouse don't even want to feed Potato to their pigs, saying it will contaminate the pork."
Joseph was somewhat frustrated. He had finally found a way to alleviate the Great Famine, but the France would rather starve than eat it.
Moreover, judging from Lamarck's words, the Nobility accepted Potato a long time ago, so why didn't they influence ordinary people?
Extensive advertising through newspapers and Pamphlets, coupled with free samples, might be effective.
He then recalled Lamarck's earlier mention of people saying Potato were "Devil from the earth," meaning that superstition might be the main reason people rejected Potato. If that's the case, then the Church would need to cooperate in promoting them...
Joseph then asked Lamarck about Potato cultivation. As they were talking, the Carriage arrived at the door of the Pharmaceutical Workshop.
"Your Highness, it seems you are very interested in Potato." Lamarck stopped the conversation. "I can compile this information and copy it down for you."
Seeing his impatient expression, Joseph could only nod and say, "Thank you very much, Count Lamarck. Well then, let's begin the trial production of Penicillin now."
"You mean, Penicillin? That's the name of that magical drug?" Lamarck quickly pulled out a pen and paper and began to write.
"Yes," Joseph said, pausing before instructing Lamarck, "Even this name must not be leaked. From now on, we'll use 'Type 1 Antibiotic' to refer to this drug."
The words "Penicillin" and "Penicillium" are so similar that it's easy for people to associate them.
This is a strategically important drug; absolutely no information about it can be leaked.
A Royal Guards opened the doors to the Pharmaceutical Workshop for Joseph and his men—they had now taken over security there.
Joseph frowned slightly when he saw the guards' crisp uniforms and the Musket behind them. He then instructed the Guard Captain, Kexer, to have the guards change into civilian clothes to avoid attracting the attention of foreign Spy.
Once the car stopped in the open space in the middle of the Workshop, Eman immediately opened the car door for the Crown Prince.
"Thank you." Joseph nodded to his attendant, got out of the car, and looked around. He saw that the place was very different from before.
First of all, the ground was spotless. The workers' clothes and the tools in the Workshop were all very clean, which was hardly the style of the 18th century.
Under the shed on the right are drying racks, on which various raw materials that need to be air-dried are placed.
The workers moved back and forth in the Workshop, carrying raw materials or loading the finished medicines onto Carriage.
Of course, most people were busy in front of various instruments, occasionally raising their hands to call out data to the recorder beside them, who would then remind them of the operating time. Occasionally, a wisp of steam would drift by, obscuring their figures.
Joseph nodded to himself. Clearly, Lamarck had put a lot of effort into running this place; it was probably the most professional pharmaceutical facility in all of Paris.
He then toured the laboratory and basically confirmed that it had the conditions to produce Penicillin.
He turned to Lamarck and said, "Let's begin. First, please find some moldy stuff, the greenish kind."
Lamarck was somewhat surprised, but he still carefully wrote it down in his notebook, then turned and left the room.
Perhaps because the Workshop was so well-maintained, it took him more than half an hour to return with a few moldy ears of Corn and a moldy towel.
Joseph lowered his voice and said, "Now I'll tell you the most important thing—this Type 1 Antibiotic is actually a secretion from Penicillium, which can be extracted from these mold spots."
Lamarck stared in surprise, but the Crown Prince had astonished him more than once, so he had no doubts whatsoever and simply kept taking notes.
Joseph recalled a documentary about Penicillin he had seen before, saying, "So first, you need to cultivate more mold. You can use things like Corn, rice, or Potato to make a thin paste, and put the mold on top. Then control the temperature to a certain level. You'll have to experiment to determine the exact amount yourself. After a few days, a large amount of mold will multiply."
"Another step is to cultivate the pathogens for testing the drug's efficacy in advance. For example, use the sputum of Pneumonia patients, put it into filtered broth or agar, control the temperature, and wait for them to multiply..."
"Wait!" Lamarck discovered the blind spot. "You mean, what kind of 'germs' are in the sputum of Pneumonia patients? Is this related to Pneumonia?"
Joseph rubbed his forehead, only then realizing that although the Medicine community at that time knew of the existence of Bacteria, they had not yet been able to link Bacteria with disease.
He could only offer a brief explanation to Lamarck: "Sputum does indeed contain pathogenic components, specifically a certain type of Bacteria."
"Bacteria? You mean Bacteria cause illness?!" Lamarck seemed extremely agitated. "No, this is completely different from the theories of miasma, humoral balance, or acid-base balance. How do Bacteria make people sick? How did you determine this? Is there a mature theoretical framework...?"
"Well, those theories you mentioned about miasma and bodily fluids are all incorrect. The answer you're looking for is actually in the medicine you're about to develop." Joseph stopped the curious child from asking further questions. These Medicine questions were quite verbose, and besides, he didn't know much about them.
Therefore, it would be better to wait until Penicillin was produced so that Lamarck could see firsthand how it could "purify" Penicillin cultures, specifically Pneumococcus. After observing Penicillin's effectiveness in curing Pneumonia patients, he would naturally understand the relationship between bacteria and disease.
Lamarck's hands were trembling slightly. If what the Crown Prince said was true, then all his Medicine knowledge would be overturned! Or rather, the entire Medicine community would cease to exist!
If the Crown Prince is wrong, then the miraculous Type 1 Antibiotic might just be a fantasy.
He didn't want either outcome...
Lamarck suddenly thought of a philosophical question—if all previous Medicine were fallacies, then should he still be considered a doctor, or a fraud, or a spreader of rumors...?
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of these maddening thoughts, and refocused on the medication. "Your Highness, what's next?"
Joseph looked at his pale face, sighed softly, and continued, "Carefully filter the Penicillium culture medium. You'll have to determine the specific filtration method through experiments."
"Since Penicillin is water-soluble, we can use oil to extract other substances from the filtrate, leaving only the bottom layer that is insoluble in oil."
"Then it was purified using activated carbon..."
"What is activated carbon?" The blind student's question struck again.
"Oh, activated charcoal is made by dry-burning wood blocks in a metal container..."
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(End of this chapter)