Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 37 36. Veron's Oysters

In Europe in the 19th century, as people's fear of death increased, the income of doctors whose vocation was to save lives increased greatly.

A general physician in Vienna needs 6-10 years of medical study, including but not limited to physiology, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, pathology, at least two years of anatomy, at least three years of philosophy, microscope practice, minerals study
After graduation, they also need to spend a year to obtain a medical license.After officially obtaining a doctor's license, the annual income of these general physicians can steadily exceed 5000 crowns.

The study time for a surgeon is much shorter, and the surgeon's license is obtained.

Compared with internal medicine, the annual income of general surgeons is much less, basically around 1000 crowns.If the surgical technique is immature and cannot attract theater audiences, then the income may drop even further.

For a top surgeon in the country like Ignatz, his annual income will reach 2 crowns, which includes the employment fee of the Municipal General Hospital, the usual theater appearance fees, media interview fees, and anatomy teaching fees given by the Medical University.

In the eyes of others, he has stepped into the ranks of the rich class.But what they don't know is that although Ignatz has a lot of income, he also spends a lot.

The source of corpses in the hospital is not smooth, and he spends more than 2000 crowns on corpses every year just to improve his skills.

In addition, he has to prepare all kinds of clothing for the appearance, and do daily maintenance for a complete set of surgical instruments in his hand.The cost of the new knives that Count Morazzo showed during his operation was as high as 1000 crowns, which he paid out of his own pocket.

However, the annual income of physicians at his level has reached 10 yuan, which includes hospital employment fees, consultation fees, research funds from medical schools, private rewards from nobles, drug naming fees and Some weird capital investment fees.

All they need to see a doctor is a diagnostic doll, a stethoscope, paper and a pen.

But even these top physicians who are well-known throughout the country, when facing the manor in front of Carvey, they will still sincerely admire in their hearts: it is really magnificent.

Turn the time back 10 hours, 9:[-] p.m.

The carriage in which Ignatz and Elena were riding was allowed to drive into the manor after presenting an invitation card inlaid with gold.

This rare manor in Vienna took two full years of construction and more than half a year of decoration and polishing. It was handed over to the rich Hungarian businessman by the most famous construction team in Austria a month ago.

This is the first time it has been officially opened to the public after the handover.

A carriage passed through the arched gate, rolled over the spacious gravel road in the center, made a beautiful arc in front of the large flower bed, and stopped under the canopy in front of the steps.Ignatz is no longer the well-known surgeon who can cause the whole theater to cheer. Standing in front of the white gate, he is just a small baron.

The focus undoubtedly belongs to the manor owner's daughter, Naya.

At the beginning of the ball, Naya, accompanied by her father, walked up the brightly lit steps.There are flowers on both sides, and there are many servants in long robes and powdered faces.

As the two slowly stepped in, there was a clear sound of violins in the hall first, and then the whole band entered the arena one by one in coordination, and finally closed together, and began to play the first waltz of the whole dance .

Naya wore a colorful tulle dress and a lavender shirt, and decorated her long hair with fresh roses. She met everyone's eyes and stepped into the ball hall gracefully.

She has no timidity at all, and the so-called social fear does not exist for her.It all stems from self-confidence, and a huge self-confidence that no one can match plays an important role behind it.

Beauty and status coexist, and she soon attracted many young handsome men to invite her to dance with her.

Ignatz naturally wouldn't do anything, no matter how beautiful the woman in front of him was, his heart was always with Elena.Moreover, he was not good at dancing, and the main purpose of coming here was not to dance, but to get close to this rich Hungarian businessman. It would be even better if he could get to know a few more rich people.

Relying on his good reputation, as well as the Minister of Medical Care, the director of the Municipal General Hospital, and a lot of alcohol in turn, the process went smoothly.Coupled with all kinds of flattery from students like Bergett, Ignatz felt for the first time that it was a matter of course.

After the dance party came to an end, the dinner party was served at 1:[-] a.m., and the content of the chat was catalyzed by a sumptuous French meal, and quickly advanced to surgical medical investment projects.

While it may seem inappropriate to talk about surgery and cadavers at the dinner table, the Hungarian, who is also the head of the multinational Industrial Credit Bank, is interested as long as there are benefits.After all, in his eyes, charity can also be profitable.

My daughter is lovely, my business is booming, and I have made so many friends in the artistic and cultural capital of Central Europe.Everything looked good until the plate of chilled oysters with a big lemon came to him.

"To be honest, I've never eaten anything like this."

Laszlo looked at the odd-shaped oyster shells and laughed at himself: "But my French chef said that I am like a sweet oyster, mysterious, self-sufficient, and lonely【1】, so I must Taste it well. Except I’m a traditional Hungarian.”

This kind of attitude of refusing to welcome food made the guests at the table shout hypocrisy in their hearts. Of course, the superficial articles still need to be well decorated.

"I heard that these oysters were taken by train directly from the mouth of the Belon River in the Brittany region of France. The whole process was expedited and transported here with ice cubes. It would be a pity not to taste it."

Laszlo heard that this person was flattering, smiled and said: "I just invested a sum of money there two months ago, preparing to start oyster farming, and I also invested in the railway from France to Austria. A little return."

"Oyster farm? So creative!"

"It was really a bold and great decision."

"It seems that as long as we follow Mr. Laszlo closely, we will all have good luck."

"Mr. Laszlo, please have a good taste of this delicacy, as long as you take a bite, you will absolutely love it."

Under the suggestions and instigation of everyone, Laszlo squeezed a circle of lemon juice, lifted the oyster shell slightly, and let the sweet iced oyster meat slide into his mouth: "Well, this taste is crisp and chewy, and it also has a bit of flavor. A little bit of nutty aroma, not bad!"

The sound was good and mixed with a few mouthfuls of sour white wine, it immediately brought him into another realm that only belonged to gourmets.

With the blessing of this special mood, Laszlo quickly complied with Ignatz's request verbally, allowing the steel factory under his name to make some surgical instruments with special structures for his work.

If his surgical reputation led to sales of instruments, he might also consider establishing a separate surgical laboratory for Ignatz.At the same time, Laszlo also decided to inject funds into the Municipal General Hospital, renovate one or two old wards, expand the third ward, and increase the supply of medicines and corpses.
In addition, he also promised many other investment projects, as if there was an inexhaustible amount of kroner in the credit bank behind it.

The wall clock on the wall passed three o'clock slowly. Seeing that a perfect night would come to an end in the after-dinner Gallup dance [2], the oyster meat that had entered Laszlo's stomach finally began to act crazily.

The butler has sharp eyes and is the first to see his master's discomfort: "Master, are you feeling unwell?"

"My neck is a little itchy, probably because the collar is too tight."

"Before the dance, I specially found a large size and widened collar, which is not tight when I wear it."

"But it's tight now!" Laszlo was impatient with the itching that slowly oozes out of the skin, "I pay you so much money every month, not for you to talk back to me!"

"Yes, I will find a more comfortable one now."

Laszlo tried to minimize the number of times he scratched the skin of his neck, but these erythema that emerged from the skin could not be suppressed by simple restraint.In just a few minutes, he couldn't stay by the dance floor anymore.

Seeing that Laszlo was leaving, Naya saw it.

She quickly abandoned her partner and came over: "Father, are you leaving?"

"I'm a little uncomfortable. It's itchy on my neck. I guess there's something wrong with the fabric of the collar." Laszlo couldn't help rubbing the skin of his neck again. "I'm afraid I have to go back and rest for a while, and change a collar by the way."

"Why is your face so swollen?"

"Face?" Laszlo touched his face, and suddenly felt itchy, "Ah, it's really itchy."

"Let me help you back to your room first."

"No, no, I can go by myself." Laszlo smiled, "Today is your debut party, you are the protagonist, and you cannot be affected by these trivial matters. Besides, it is disrespectful to the guests for the protagonist to leave the hall. So embarrassing."

Naya couldn't listen to these words, but felt that the arm supporting him was heavy, and soon lost her center of gravity. The two of them fell down on the stairs: "Father! What's wrong with you, Father?"

The story on the carriage came to an abrupt end. Ignatz rubbed his forehead, trying to relieve the pain caused by alcohol: "I rushed over when I heard the shout, and saw that his head had swollen into a Italian red tomatoes."

"Have itching and redness?"

"Very bad itching and redness, I left just before 6 and I'm afraid it hasn't subsided yet."

Carvey had already guessed the allergy, but what he didn't expect was that Ignatz could target the "oyster" and he had a good grasp of the symptoms, so he tentatively asked a few words: "Is this an oyster?" Could it be food poisoning? By the way, how did the teacher know it was the oysters?"

"I've met this kind of person before. When I eat oysters and scallops, my skin turns red and itches all over my body."

Carvey didn't know how to call allergies in this era, so he could only use a more straightforward generalization method to say a strange name: "shellfish irritating mucocutaneous inflammation?"【3】

Ignatz had never heard of this disease, and after a moment of silence, he found that it seemed to be a good summary: "It's a good name, but naming the disease won't relieve its symptoms. Mr. Laszlo's situation is not optimistic."

(End of this chapter)