Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 4 4. Corpse
Dead bodies were not uncommon in nineteenth-century European cities.

The most eye-catching thing is the execution ground set up at the intersection of lively streets, where people who commit serious crimes will be hanged in public to serve as a warning and demonstrate authority.

But these are all official unilateral ideas, and public execution grounds often end up as gathering places for popular carnivals.They drank and booed and cheered as the man under the noose fell freely.

For surgeons who are good at recycling, the hanged corpse does not have too many wounds, and the structure is complete enough, which is a high-quality material for dissection.

High quality belongs to high quality, but there are still some shortcomings.

One is that most of the tortured are adult males, which lack diversity, and the other is that the price is too expensive. A corpse can often be worth several months' salary of a worker.Even for large institutions like hospitals, it is difficult to achieve long-term uninterrupted supply.

Since Austria promulgated the relevant "Anatomy Act" following in the footsteps of Britain, France and Germany, the corpses on the execution ground have been blocked from the doctors' dissection room.No one would hang a guy who stole bread any more for the sake of selling it.

The executioner stepped off the stage of history, and the gravedigger became the "good partner" of the surgeon.

In places far away from the main city, in those dark alleys, people suffering from hunger, cold and disease will die silently.As long as you look patiently, you can always find one or two in the slums.

Gravediggers often use unappreciated means to resell "unclaimed" corpses to hospitals to earn the difference.

There are men, women and children here, with a wide variety and very low cost, but it is difficult to guarantee the quality.The living environment of the poor is poor, and they often suffer from severe pneumonia, malignant diarrhea, parasitic diseases and large areas of rotten sores. After death, these factors will accelerate the decay of the corpse.

Even the first-time fresh corpses have some small problems.For example, severe muscle atrophy and osteoporosis caused by long-term malnutrition, and sometimes there are not even a few teeth left in the mouth.

Poor quality is better than nothing, and Vienna's corpse market is still alive and well.

Ignatz was so passionate about medicine that he would give up everything in order to improve his craft.It's just that his status as a baron made him intimidated by gravediggers, and the corpses of poor people couldn't meet his high requirements, so they couldn't make it to the dissection table.

Now before him is a question to fill in the blank, where else can the corpse be retrieved from besides the executed criminals and gravediggers?

The answer is the police department.

The forensic doctor in the police station was his old friend. When the corpses in the execution ground were not divided enough, Ignatz could get some things from him.It wasn't illegal at the time, but things in the gray area were not glamorous after all, so Ignatz hadn't been there for years as he got better at it.

Now that times have changed and surgical techniques are in urgent need of innovation, he must try his luck there again.

For a famous surgeon like Ignatz, even without the title of baron, his face and outfit alone are enough to show his identity.There are many fans of him in the police station, and they often go to the theater to support him. Getting in and out here is as convenient as going home.

Of course, Ignaz, who is as dazzling as a star, rarely walks with fans. There is only one old friend, Musil.

Musil and he were old classmates who graduated from the University of Vienna Medical School at the same time. Because he couldn't stand patients dying in front of him one by one, he finally chose to speak for the dead.Staying away from patients further honed his anatomical skills and even developed a different kind of emotion for corpses.

"It's really time for you to come, come, come, look at this beauty."

As soon as Ignatz entered the door, he was dragged to the dissecting table before he had time to explain his purpose.

Lying on the cold stone bed in front of her was Rosa who had just been discovered on Basinger Street.She had blond hair, a well-proportioned figure, and smooth skin, but her face, swollen with broken bones, was not really beautiful. (1)

Fortunately, to an anatomist, the face is not important.

Musil looked at the corpse with only one broken arm, and his voice was trembling with excitement: "It was just delivered three hours ago. It is said that he committed suicide by jumping off a building and fell on his face. Fortunately, it is on the third floor. If it is higher, But it’s not quite that complete.”

"He died on the third floor?" Ignatz felt a little strange. "The owner of the grocery store accidentally got down from the fifth floor and only broke one leg."

Musil sighed, recalling the old man, his face was full of pity: "Yes, his body is indeed very tough. It's a pity that his mind is too fragile to bear the pain caused by the amputation operation, and he died the next day. died."

The operation was performed by Ignatz, so the direction of this sentence is very obvious.

Maybe it's because the two old friends haven't seen each other for a long time, and when they came up, they were full of power, shaking off all the old things.

"I need to remind you that it's not my fault I didn't have ether."

"But that doesn't make it a disaster."

"It wasn't a disaster, I managed to amputate his leg in 1 minute and 21 seconds."

"Ha, if Mr. Scott hadn't been buried for 12 years, maybe he would be on crutches and agree with you with a smile on his face."

Hearing this, Ignatz couldn't help but twitch his face twice, and turned his face to look at his old friend: "If you tease my courage for good use in medicine, maybe you are as famous as me now A surgeon, but unfortunately you haven't."

"Yes, I'm afraid." Musil's tone was flat, and he had long since lost the enthusiasm he had in the past. "Surgeries with a mortality rate of more than 50% are meaningless."

"That was your operation. The mortality rate of my operation was only 47%, and through my unremitting efforts, it has been successfully reduced to less than 45% now." After listing these figures, Ignatz did not forget to follow up with the final word , "I am now the surgeon with the most types of operations and the highest success rate in Austria."

Seeing him so excited, Musil changed his face, smiled and comforted: "Yes, yes, you are better than me, okay? If you have time to argue with me, why not take more time to look at her, she is It should be our protagonist today!"

Ignatz calmed down and finally focused on the corpse.

The old friend's mouth is a bit damaged, but he still has a unique way of looking at corpses.After checking up and down, he did not find any trauma other than the broken head and arm: "Did she really jump from the third floor?"

"Why am I lying to you? 73 Basinger Street."

"Based on my experience, it is impossible to keep the body straight when falling from the building, and the face shouldn't be broken so exaggeratedly, did you hit something halfway?"

"No, it came down directly."

"It's a little weird."

Ignatz felt strange, but his mind was not on the cause of Rosa's death at all.He came here for only one purpose, which was to retrieve the corpse.So after dealing with Musil for a few words, he quickly changed the topic to other places: "Is she a local?"

"Why are you asking this?"

"I guess she lives alone."

"Oh? Can this be seen?"

Ignatz nodded seriously, and then continued: "I think she looks like a Russian from the east."

"Hey, your face is gone, can you still tell your nationality?"

"No, no, my old friend, the evidence I'm talking about is actually the name."

Ignatz went to his feet and picked up the card on the toe: "Rosa Ivanova, Rosa Petrova, sounds natural. Of course it may be French, Rosa. Bonnard, Rosa Vijri, doesn't sound too bad. Austrian? Rosa Joseph? Rosa Delrin? Oh, that's weird!"

Musil understood as soon as he heard it, and smiled: "She does live alone, and she can't find the contact information of her family members. We should help bury her as required."

"50 crowns, I'll take it."

"You are too straightforward."

"50 kroner is already a high price." Ignatz didn't bother to put it on, and asked directly, "Just say whether you will sell it or not."

Musil returned to the corpse, shook his head and said, "Our detective hasn't closed the case yet, and the corpse might have to stay."

"Huh? Didn't you mean suicide?"

"It's what the people on the street said, and I just saw her fall headlong. I just said that she lives alone, who knows what's wrong in the room. Besides, you know, Inspector Witt is always serious, it's impossible Let go of this doubt."

Musil picked up the scalpel on the side and said, "Otherwise, you will end the case. As long as the detective closes the case, I will submit an application, so that I can leave work earlier. What do you think of the proposal?"

"Where do I have this ability?"

Ignatz has no way to decide the direction of the case, but he still has the qualification to be the first on the buyer's list: "No matter what, as long as no one claims the body, it is mine. Let's make an agreement, 50 Krona, you can't sell it to someone else!"

"Okay, no problem."

Ignatz turned around and left the autopsy room. To be honest, this trip didn't yield much. Musil didn't have any corpses in his hand.

With that detective's cautious style, it would take three days to wait until the case is concluded.By that time, the operation would have been over, and the cadavers left in the dissecting room, even if soaked in whiskey, could not prevent the decay.

What's more, it is impossible for the police station to preserve the body with the whiskey that everyone wants to taste. Throughout the world, only anatomists can resist the temptation of alcohol.

Just as he stepped out of the gate of the police station dejectedly and was about to go back to the hospital, a black carriage drove up from a distance.The coachman was dressed in black, with a black tall hat on his head, and the logo of the police station was printed on the body, and the horses seemed to be much more spirited than ordinary carriages.

"Hey, isn't this Baron Ignatz~"

It was Werther, the inspector of the Vienna Police Department, who got out of the car and took off his hat and bowed to him: "Why are you here so free? Have you encountered any difficult problems?"

Ignatz didn't know how to answer.

He has no friendship with Werther, and it is obviously not in line with his status to put down his body to beg the other party.So after hesitating for a while, he could only smile and make an excuse: "I've come to see Musil, we haven't seen each other for a long time. I didn't expect today to be so unfortunate that the police station has a case to deal with."

"Yeah, it's just a coincidence."

"Oh, we can only talk about it later."

After all, Ignatz was about to say goodbye and leave.

"Hey, Baron Ignatz, please wait a moment." Werther suddenly stopped his way, "Sorry, I need to waste some of your time."

"what happened?"

"It's nothing serious." Werther looked back at the young man who had just got off the carriage behind him, and said, "There is an important witness in this case, he claims to be your student. Your students are all over the country, there is nothing wrong with that. It's just from Just wear it and look at it, I think it’s better for you to confirm it yourself.”

　(1) Side rails are required around the dissection table to prevent blood from spilling out. In the [-]th century, there was no anti-corrosion stainless steel, and only a special stone table could meet the dissection requirements.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)