A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 665 The Light of Humanity
Under Lu Bicheng's initiative, Curie called for an event to improve women's education and open more girls' schools or recruit more female students. Principals and students of girls' schools from all over the country gathered, including Lin Changmin and his daughter Lin Huiyin.

After seeing Li Yu, Lin Changmin said: "When Mr. Ren came back, I wanted to go to the banquet with you all, but I was busy with the League of Nations mission assigned by President Xu Shichang, so I couldn't be there. I deeply regret it."

"The League of Nations?" Li Yu asked, "Does Vice-Chairman Lin want to be the representative?"

"The president appointed me as the chief representative of the World League of Nations, and I will go to Europe in the near future." Lin Changmin said.

This trip to Europe, he took his daughter Lin Huiyin with him, and this was a journey that changed Lin Huiyin's life.

The League of Nations, which Lin Changmin wants to represent, is a big pitfall.

The League of Nations was originally established based on Wilson's "Fourteen Points", and Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

But as I have said several times before, Wilson is an idealist, and his ideas are unlikely to be agreed by the established powers such as Britain and France.

Li Yu said: "From the news sent back by the United States, although Wilson signed the Treaty of Versailles, the U.S. Congress vetoed it, which means that the U.S. signature is invalid. Isolationism prevails in the United States, which is basically impossible. Join the League of Nations again.”

Lin Changmin was silent for a moment: "We have no choice."

The League of Nations was inherently deficient. Although it had made some achievements in medical education, it did not even have the ability to make peace when it came to peace issues.

During the September 18th Incident, the Republic of China government requested the League of Nations to uphold justice. As a result, the League of Nations' investigation report concluded that China's improper behavior caused the conflict between China and Japan, and demanded that the three northeastern provinces be placed under the co-management of the League of Nations.

It’s simply jaw-dropping!
Madame Curie asked casually: "I know that there is a saint in China named Confucius. His family has flourished for more than two thousand years, and he still has the highest title?"

It seems that many foreigners who came to China during the Republic of China, especially the cultural circles, would ask this question. Li Yu replied: "The Kong family has indeed been passed down to the 77th generation, but the current Yanshenggong is a baby who is not yet one month old."

Lin Changmin smiled and said: "This Duke Yansheng was born into a great battle."

Kong Lingyi, the previous generation of Yanshenggong, had just passed away a few months ago. He himself was a single descendant of the second generation and married two wives, both of whom gave birth to a daughter.

Kong Lingyi then took a wife's maid as a side chamber, but when she was six months pregnant, Kong Lingyi died of a sudden illness in Beijing. Before his death, Kong Lingyi told President Xu Shichang that if the maid gave birth to a boy, he would inherit the Duke of Yansheng.

Lin Changmin said: "The previous generation Yansheng Duke Kong Lingyi left a posthumous son, who inherited the title of Yansheng Duke before he was born, but the prerequisite is that it is a boy, and there is only a half chance.

"This matter is quite troublesome. Six hundred years ago, the fiftieth generation head of the Kong family did not leave any sons. Several of his nephews even went to Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan for this matter.

"President Xu Shichang was afraid that something would go wrong again, so he asked the Shandong Governor to send troops to guard the place to ensure that no one could 'change a civet cat for a prince'. In the end, he successfully gave birth to a baby boy, inheriting the 32nd generation Yan Shenggong of the Kong family.

"It's just that his mother died of puerperal fever half a month after giving birth."

Madame Curie lamented: "It is so regrettable that I was born without parents."

A middle-aged man in his thirties said: "There is no regrets. The education Yanshenggong can receive will not be worse than that of the little emperor in the palace."

Then he introduced himself: "I am Qian Jibo, from Wujiang Lize Girls' Middle School. I am fortunate to know Ms. Curie and Mr. Li Yu."

Qian Jibo is Qian Zhongshu's father. Although he is far less famous than Qian Zhongshu, he is still a professor at many universities in the Republic of China, such as Tsinghua University and East China Normal University.

"Hello," Curie said, "When you said this, you almost forgot that there is an emperor in your country."

Li Yu said: "If you forget it, just forget it, it doesn't matter."

Now the presence of the Qing Emperor is rapidly decreasing, which to be honest is a good thing for them. These former Qing royal families should keep a low profile.

Qian Jibo said to Curie: "In order to encourage Chinese people to send more girls to school, I want to write a biography of my wife. Is it possible?"

Madame Curie smiled and said: "Biography? That is written for people who have passed away."

Qian Jibo said: "Just writing about your life up to now, as a top part, is enough to inspire domestic female students."

Marie Curie said: "If it works, of course it can."

Li Yu said: "This matter is simple. There are many articles in Europe, which can be directly translated."

I remember that in Qian Zhongshu's "Fortress Besieged", "The Biography of Madame Curie" was mentioned. Of course, it was just a passing glance, but it also shows that Madame Curie was well-known in the country. In the 1930s, some people still saw photos of Madame Curie hanging in the Confucius Temple.

In the following month, Curie went to many universities in Shanghai and Beijing. She originally wanted to visit Wuhan and Guangzhou, but unfortunately her health was not good and she was unable to make the trip. I had only stayed in the United States for less than a month before.

Although the time was short, China still left a good impression on her. Before leaving, Curie once again assured Li Yu: "I will try my best to accept as many Chinese students studying in France in the future."

"It couldn't be better!" Li Yu said gratefully.

-

Half a month after Curie left, Xi Lusheng, the fourth comprador of HSBC Bank, hurriedly visited Li Yu’s Yu Garden.

The Xi family and Li Yu have been in contact for more than ten years. The villa in Shanghai was the land given to Li Yu by the Xi family.

Xi Lusheng's expression was heavy, and he took a deep breath and said: "Mr. Academician, my daughter unfortunately suffers from diabetes mellitus. I have searched all over Shanghai's famous doctors, both Chinese and Western medicine, and they all said that she only has one or two years to live."

"Diabetes, diabetes?" Li Yu asked.

"This is what the foreign doctors said," Xi Lusheng said. "I asked Dean Tan Wenbu of Renji Hospital and Professor Liu Ruiheng of Harvard Chinese Medical School (the one who operated on Liang Qichao and later became the president of Union Medical College). ), they all believe that the current solution is to eat as little as possible and just maintain vital signs. Although she will gradually lose weight, she may be able to survive for two more years until the dawn of science illuminates her life. Sir, are you the greatest saint of science, the god of science? Do you really have this day?”

Xi Lusheng was eager to save her daughter, and her words were trembling.

Li Yu sighed: "I'm not a doctor, but from a scientific point of view, the two famous doctors are right."

Xi Lusheng's eyes sparkled: "Is there any help?"

Li Yu nodded: "But you must persist for two years. These two years will be very difficult. How old is the child?"

"Fourteen."

"weight?"

"The child is greedy and weighs more than 110 pounds."

"Fortunately, young people have strong vitality and can maintain this weight for two years." Xi Lusheng couldn't help but confirm again: "Mr. Academician, are you saying that my daughter can recover as long as she persists for two years?"

Li Yu said: "It's hard to say whether he will be cured or not, but he can still survive. It just requires spending more money."

Xi Lusheng said: "It doesn't matter how much you spend!"

The Xi family is a wealthy family in Shanghai and is not short of money at all. In the future, they will even be married to the Song family.

During the Republic of China, only wealthy families could afford to treat this disease.

Li Yu said: "You go back and wait. Strictly follow the two doctors' recipes. No matter how hungry you are, you can't let her eat more. Do you understand?"

Xi Lusheng said: "Remember!"

"Don't feel bad, otherwise you will harm her." Li Yu emphasized.

Xi Lusheng solemnly said: "Absolutely not!"

-

After Xi Lusheng left, Li Yu summoned Tang Feifan from Changsha with a telegram.

"You haven't graduated with your Ph.D. yet?" Li Yu asked.

"This year or next year." Tang Fei replied.

Li Yu said: "Then I will find a project for you. Not only will you get a doctorate soon, but you may also win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine."

Tang Feifan was shocked: "You have an idea so quickly? It hasn't been long since I left the capital last time."

Li Yu said: "It happened that a wealthy family in Shanghai came to me and asked if there was any way to cure diabetes."

Tang Feifan felt even more incredible: "Mr. Academician, do you even care about medicine?"

Li Yu smiled and said: "How could that be! I just like to read some scientific magazines, and I found an interesting article, which I feel is very helpful in treating diabetes."

Diabetes has a very long history in human history. It is said that there were records in ancient Egypt in 1500 BC. my country's "Huangdi Neijing" also mentioned it and called it diabetes, which means that people who suffer from this disease will lose weight and become thirsty.

Diabetes has a wide coverage. According to later statistics, almost one in ten people has diabetes, and there are hundreds of millions of diabetics in China alone.

Before the invention of insulin, most people with diabetes could only live one or two years.

With such a widespread incidence rate, one can imagine how much mankind is looking forward to overcoming this disease.

Tang Feifan said: "Sir, are you talking about the experiment on the pancreas? Thirty years ago, two German scientists, Merlin and Oscar Minkowski, did it."

The Oscar Minkowski he mentioned was the brother of the famous Einstein’s teacher and the great mathematician Minkowski who created the four-dimensional space.

Tang Feifan continued: "The two of them have long known that diabetes is related to the pancreas, but over the years, countless researchers have used pancreatic extracts to treat diabetes. At least four to five hundred experiments have failed. Because the pancreatic extracts hit the patients In the body, it can only cause abscesses, infections, fever, and septicemia, which have been mentioned many times in medical literature. In short, although it is known that the pancreas can control blood sugar, it seems impossible to use pancreatic extract to lower blood sugar safely!”

Li Yu naturally knew this, so he immediately took out a paper and said: "I asked the American Science Branch to find this. It reported a case of a patient with pancreatic exocrine gland atrophy but no diabetes. Based on this, it can be inferred that The pancreas may secrete a hormone in the blood that controls glucose metabolism."

Tang Feifan's mind was spinning very quickly. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Sir, what you are saying is that it may only be a part of specific cells in the pancreas that secrete hypoglycemic substances, rather than the entire pancreas?"

Li Yu smiled and said: "You are really smart. In the past, the whole pancreas was crushed and extracted, but the extract contained too many impurities and was not pure hypoglycemic hormone (let's call it that, because the scientific community at this time did not know what it was. effect)."

Tang Feifan immediately answered: "If we can think of a way to purify hypoglycemia, diabetes can be treated!"

"That's right!" Li Yu said, "I guess that if we use some method to shrink the cells in the dog's pancreas that are responsible for secreting digestive juices, leaving only cells that lower blood sugar, we can get pure hypoglycemic hormone. Specifically The process must be very complicated. If you have studied anatomy, you should understand it better than me."

Li Yu really didn't understand medicine, but diabetes was so common before he time traveled that he had heard about it. This kind of thing is easy for top scientists. Tang Feifan immediately had a lot of ideas in his mind. He walked around the room for a while and said excitedly: "Yes! As long as the dog's pancreatic duct is ligated through surgery, it can be done. ! But the experiment will use a lot of dogs, and it will also require an advanced laboratory for testing.”

Li Yu said: "That's such a coincidence. My Datong University does not lack any equipment. As for test dogs, there are as many test dogs as you need, and there are many students who can be assistants."

Just do it.

After using funds to buy twenty dogs, Tang Feifan used his status as a doctor of medicine to perform pancreatic duct ligation on the dogs. At the same time, he also removed the pancreas of some dogs to artificially create diabetic dogs.

Because it was the first time to do so many experiments and surgeries, the experimental dogs suffered a lot. Fortunately, the last few remaining ones completed the experiment.

The extract lowered the blood sugar of the diabetic dog five times in five days, significantly improved the symptoms of diabetes, and with the help of the extract, the dog survived for a full month.

——The experiment achieved the most critical phased results.

Li Yu asked Tang Feifan to compile the paper, and then said to him: "For the next part of the clinical trial, domestic conditions are not enough, because there are currently no scholars studying human endocrinology in China, and the next stage can only go to European and American medical schools."

Of course Tang Feifan understood, "I'll send a telegram to Principal Yan Fuqing of Xiangya."

Li Yu said: "I will do this. Your doctorate will not be lost. European and American universities will also issue you a doctorate by then."

Tang Feifan asked again: "I have never been abroad, which university should I go to?"

Li Yu thought for a moment and said, "Maybe at the University of Toronto, there is a professor of physiology there. They are probably also studying diabetes. If they get help from experts, the experiment will be faster."

Li Yu mentioned, of course, Banting and MacLeod, who discovered insulin in history.

However, Li Yu asked Tang Feifan to conduct the test more than half a year in advance. To be honest, the experiment is not difficult at all. The main thing is to come up with this idea. After Banting came up with the idea, he completed it in just one summer vacation.

But for the next clinical part, we really need to seek their cooperation.

As a result, the Nobel Prize in Physiology two years later will not only be awarded to Banting and MacLeod, but also to Tang Feifan.

Of course, under current conditions, even if they can conquer diabetes, they can only treat a few wealthy patients.

Because the insulin extracted from the pancreas is so rare, the insulin extracted from the pancreas of a pig is only enough for one person for seven days. That’s why this disease is called the “disease of wealth”. Ordinary people cannot cure it at all.

For ordinary people to be able to cure diabetes, we will have to rely on genetic engineering more than half a century later, which is to insert a human insulin gene into a plasmid inside E. coli or yeast, so that the bacteria can produce insulin on a large scale.