Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 154. 151. The experiment "failed"
No matter at home or abroad, as long as they break away from the experiments and demonstrations of modern medicine, the selected herbal medicines will be more or less toxic.Even in modern medicine, most of the drugs used are toxic once the dosage is increased, not to mention the products of various herbs mixed.

The saying that "the medicine is three-point poison" naturally has its truth.

In the 19th century and before when there was no control over drugs, the amount of herbal medicine used was entirely a very subjective experience and on-the-spot judgment of the doctor.

If you are seriously ill, you can give more, and if you are mildly ill, you can give less. It is definitely unrealistic not to give, and it will not reflect the role of doctors in the recovery process of the disease.

This bottle of herbal medicine was used for pelvic infection. Besim's original purpose of using it was definitely not the so-called pelvic infection, because he had no concept of pelvic infection at all.Besim only knew that the abdominal pain and swelling of the lower abdomen came from the uncleanness of the reproductive tract, and these herbs were used to treat uncleanness.

Carvey's previous idea was very simple, that is, to verify the efficacy of herbal medicine in two ways.

One is to make a vole infection model to try the antibacterial ability of the drug. The advantage is that it can intuitively show the safety and antibacterial effect of the drug at one time.But model making is not easy and requires a lot of labor.

Savarin and Martick are already spinning, and without help from anyone else, the production of this model is very low.

The second is to culture the bacteria with liquid medicine and simple bacteria on the self-made simple petri dish, and compare the growth rate of the bacteria and the size of the colony.The advantage is that bacterial culture is much simpler and occupies a smaller area, but it is impossible to observe whether the drug is safe.

Carvey wanted Savarin to use both methods to prove the usefulness of herbs, and Savarin did the same.

Unfortunately, the results were somewhat surprising.

"Elizabeth died just like that." Compared with Savarin when he first helped, now he has been able to control his emotions, and he can only see his reluctance from some subtle expressions, "I will bury it as soon as possible. Next model."

"How much medicine did you inject?"

"According to your request, about 1ml."

"How much does Elizabeth weigh?"

"600g."

"The lethal dose is so high." Carvey recalled the various privately formulated medicines he saw in the medicinal material shop, which contained many inexplicable things. "What about the symptoms before death? Have you observed it?"

"Vomiting, fatigue, irritability, difficulty breathing, and twitching of limbs." Savarin looked at the notebook in his hand and said, "That's probably all."

"Sounds like arsenic, but it's not exactly like that."

Carvey looked again at the regular dosage of the medicine that Bessim left for himself: "The patient takes it twice a day, the amount is about 5ml each time, and the daily intake is 10ml. The curative effects include but are not limited to 'promoting the excretion of excessive Miasma', 'Helps expel the dirt from the gastrointestinal tract', 'Patients can maintain long-term mental excitement and muscle activity'."

Originally, he thought that these were just casual talk, but now it seems that he respects the facts very much.

Difficulty breathing means lack of oxygen, and the body will naturally compensate for faster breathing; vomiting is indeed expulsing the dirt in the body; convulsions become muscle activity; as for the mental state, it is a very subjective thing.

Carvey has a headache.

He thought that the herbal medicine would be toxic, but he didn't think that the voles would be directly poisoned to death after reducing the dose, which meant that poisoning symptoms must have appeared when it was applied to the patient.In addition, after taking it for so long, there must be chronic poisoning if the person is not dead.

Symptoms of Chronic Poisoning Carvey recalled the contents of the peasant woman's medical records. There seemed to be some very common symptoms: dizziness, chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

If the guess is correct, the peasant woman must have eaten the poison in the herbal medicine, but what happened to the postoperative infection?

Do poisonous herbs inhibit bacterial growth?
"You continue to do the antibacterial experiment in the culture medium first, and then make an infection model, and try to halve the dose." Carvey has no other good way, so he can only bite the bullet and continue to try, "I will wait two days tomorrow. Let’s take a look again when you have time.”

"I see."

Now there are three possibilities in front of Kavi.

One experiment was successful, and the herbal medicine did have a certain antibacterial effect, but it was also toxic.

Carvey is not good at doing experiments, and his job is not chemical research, and he is not very interested in chemistry.Considering the complex process of refining and purification, without the help of a chemical researcher, all he can do is to further dilute it.

At that time, whether it can really be used clinically will have to try a few more times.

The second experiment failed. The herbal medicine had no antibacterial effect except for its toxicity. Carvey had to go back to Graze Hospital to find the patient for further details.It's not difficult, it's troublesome.

The third experiment failed, the herbal medicine had no antibacterial effect, and the patient's incision was still infected, and some of the previous ones were false.

If it's really the third kind, it's just a joy in vain.
(Don’t come to the third type, don’t!)

"What were you talking about, Dr. Carvey?"

Carvey stared blankly at Koch not far away and said with a smile: "Um, it's nothing, it's just that the experiment encountered some problems, and I just talked to myself."

"Your experiment is very interesting." Koch was not really interested in the results of the experiment. What really aroused his curiosity was the round glassware on the table. "This is the petri dish you mentioned in "On Microorganisms" Bar."

"Yes, there is a layer of culture medium underneath, which is the nutrients needed by microorganisms." Carvey said, "You should have seen the inoculation method just now."

"That's right, Mr. Savarin has already told me that the inoculation loop needs to be burned by flames. This is an application of Mr. Pasteur's high temperature sterilization method, which is really clever."

Unlike everyone else, Koch didn't care why Carvey knew so much.There is only knowledge in his eyes, like a dry sponge, constantly absorbing the moisture around him.

Carvey likes this kind of person the most. Considering that Koch will return to China in two months, if he wants to keep people, he needs to show his professionalism in microbiology: "Since you are willing to help here, I I can tell you how to make the culture medium."

"Really?"

"Of course." Carvey smiled, "(Because this is something you will invent in the future)"

The method of making the culture medium is not difficult. There are many simple preparation and solidification methods in modern times. In the 19th century, if there was no agar, it was necessary to make meat extract peptone by yourself.The method is similar to making meat jelly, that is, after the meat is cooked for a long time, the protein-rich soup is put into a glass dish to cool and solidify.

This medium is definitely not as nutritious as modern ones, and the growth rate of microorganisms will be slowed down, but it is better than nothing.

The most important thing is to ensure the sterility of the inoculation.

The time soon came to May 5, which was the day of Fernan's surgery.

The operation time was scheduled for one o'clock in the afternoon, and Carvey went to the laboratory again in the morning, but the result made him very disappointed, and the experiment failed.

After reducing the amount of herbal medicine, the newly made infection model did not die, but it also did not inhibit the bacteria.For a day and a half, the three voles in the experimental group and the three mice in the control group all developed the same symptoms of infection.

The same thing happened in the Petri dishes, some colonies appeared in both groups of Petri dishes, and the growth rate was roughly the same.

No matter how you look at it, herbs have no antibacterial ability.

"What should we do now?" Savarin was in a mess in front of him, and he could only look at Carvey, hoping that he could come up with a plan, "Get rid of all of this?"

Experiments are always accompanied by a large number of failures, which is the result that the experimenter must bear.Carvey also knows the difficulties, and at least he is rich enough in terms of funds now: "Wait another day, if the result does not change, we can only throw it away, and then try again with the medicine selected from the previous medicine shop."

"Oh." Savarin looked at the large amount of experimental materials, and his heart was bleeding, "It's too wasteful."

"It's all helpless." Carvey said, "If you have time to think about it, why not help me figure out what the problem is."

"Didn't you go to Graze Hospital just now? I asked how the patient was doing?"

"There are no other things that may inhibit the growth of bacteria in the patient's daily life and diagnosis and treatment." Carvey took out his notebook and flipped through it, "I eat ordinary food and wear ordinary clothes. Only this bottle of herbs."

"And then?" Koch asked.

"Then she got pregnant, and she lived as usual during her pregnancy, that is, she just took some herbal medicine. But because her body reacted too much, she secretly reduced the dosage." Carvey recalled, "Dr. Besim just heard about this Still blaming the patient for being disobedient.”

Savarin has been staying with Carvey all the time, and his way of thinking has gradually moved closer to him. He always feels that heavy metals, bloodletting, enemas and some messy additives are not of much benefit to patients: "Doesn't he know that herbal medicine is poisonous?"

"Of course he knew, but he also knew that a small amount of a poisonous herb would be good for a patient."

"And then what?"

"And then? No more. During pregnancy, because the herbal medicines taken decreased, the body is actually pretty good." Kavi blinked and said, "Then I went to the operating table for a cesarean section."

"What happened during the operation?"

"Surgery is a trauma, and it provides a channel for microorganisms to enter the human body, so it has always been an important factor in increasing infection." Carvey explained, "In addition, there was heavy bleeding during the operation, and the uterus was removed together, which took a very long time. Then After the major operation, the patient's incision didn't even have a trace of leakage, so I found it strange."

Carvey has been very reserved about this matter.

Even for modern surgical patients, there is still a certain infection rate after surgery. Considering the physical condition of the peasant woman, it is a miracle that no infection occurred after such an operation.

"There was no infection in the incision today?"

"No, no ulceration or any leakage, very clean incision." Carvey explained, "I'm sure her pelvic cavity must have been infected, otherwise there would never be such serious adhesions in the surrounding tissues."

"That's weird"

What Koch did was research on incision ulceration. Even though he had never been on the operating table, he understood the infection risk factors brought about by huge surgical trauma: "Is there anything else that can be used as a reference?"

"No, I have asked all the questions I should ask."

"What if we go further?" Mattick asked on the side, "What treatment did the patient receive before? Or has there been any change in living habits?"

"It was a year ago." Carvey shook his head, "How could the experience a year ago affect the current surgical incision? Even if it is really useful, the patient's pelvic infection should have been cured long ago."

Carvey didn't want to mention the patient's previous experience, because she, like the previous women, had undergone an induced abortion.In order to achieve the goal of successful abortion, the means of the performer must be rough.At the same time, because the selected instruments were not strictly sterilized, serious infections were caused.

This is a dark history, and Carvey really wants to ask who made the abortion through the peasant woman's mouth.

It's a pity that the other party is willing to say anything to Kawei, a lifesaver, but this matter is still tight-lipped.

Of course, Carvey couldn't force it, so he could only go back to the laboratory first: "Let's think about other things, the patient's weight, plus the pelvic infection, there must be a problem if the incision is not infected."

Carvey sat at the table and looked at the notebook in his hand, Koch played with the petri dish and microscope, Savarin squatted by the field mouse cage and fed the feed, and Mattick was still flipping through the book hoping to find the answer.

All four of them were thinking about the same problem, and the time passed by, but the result was still 0.

Is it really a miracle?

Carvey still holds a negative attitude towards this, but the current situation is volatile, and this negative attitude is like a bamboo raft floating in the vast sea, not knowing whether the direction of travel is really correct.

What if it really is a miracle?

Perhaps it is really the patient's special body that resists the microbial invasion during the operation.If this is the case, it might be too late to let go now.

Carvey has a deep understanding of how difficult it is to break through from 0 to 1, and he has lost a lot of confidence after only one month of setbacks.

He is now like walking into a maze, the maze is full of passages, no one knows what is the end of the passage, and no one knows when it will come to the end.It was very difficult to find the right passage, and after entering the passage, he had to run forward in the dark without hesitation.
If I knew that I should have learned more about medical history and biochemical pharmaceutical technology, it would not be so troublesome.

"It's running out of time for the surgery. I have to go to the theater first." Carvey got up and took his coat and walked out the door. "I don't know if Mr. Fernan is here."

"Can I go together?" Koch is also interested in surgery, "I want to see Mr. Carvey's disinfection technique with my own eyes."

"The tickets should all be sold out." Carvey thought for a while, "If you don't mind, why don't you just stand in the operation preparation area and be an assistant? It's just a white job, and I can't pay you!"

"no problem."

(End of this chapter)