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Episode 5. The Princess’ Doctor Beats Me Up (5)

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Most doctors in the Middle Ages and early modern times were also scientists. Some were also philosophers, theologians, or alchemists.

Pasteur, who developed vaccines and denied the theory of spontaneous generation, was originally a chemist.

This trend has continued to some extent to the present day. It is standard for competent doctors to regularly write papers and participate in research.

The reason I am going on and on about this is this.

Now, I have to figure out how to distill the liquor Istina bought down to the level of rubbing alcohol, without setting the lab on fire.

As expected, it doesn’t look easy.

“Vodka. You weren’t lying when you said you weren’t going to buy it for drinking, were you?”

“Do I look like a drinker?”

The graduate student shook his head.

“Professor, you can have a drink. I don’t think it’s any of my business.”

That’s true.

The two barrels of vodka that Istina brought were more than I thought. If you calculate it in the dark, you can make one barrel of ethanol and one and a half barrels of disinfectant.

Istina frowned.

“So… …. What are you going to do with this?”

“I’m going to boil some vodka.”

“Would you like to boil it and eat it?”

“No, I said I’m using it for experiments.”

Why does he like drinking so much?

“Ethanol boils before water. If you keep the temperature of the first container between 75 and 95 degrees, you will be able to obtain pure ethanol vapor. If you pass this pure ethanol vapor through a cold tube, pure ethanol will come out.”

It doesn’t have to be vodka, but if you boil wine, the disinfectant will smell like grapes. Above all, the price doesn’t fit.

The distillation itself can be done easily with the materials we have here in the lab. We have flasks and burners, etc. I’m not sure if that’ll be worth the price though.

“I think I understand.”

“Yeah.”

“What is the target value?”

“Solutions with ethanol content exceeding 75%.”

Istina tied her hair up and scribbled something in a small notebook.

“What is ethanol- No. Okay, I understand. Let’s start by organizing what we need now. ”

Okay, very smart.

Vodka has an alcohol content of about 40-50%. This is effective, but the alcohol content of general alcohol disinfectants is about 75%. You will have to distill it to get results.

“So, what you need now is a fire, a thermometer flask, a water cooling tube, and a container to hold the ethanol, right?”

I nodded.

“I think most of them are in the professor’s lab. I’ll go to the alchemy lab to see if there’s anything with a larger capacity.”

This is the alchemy department laboratory.

There was a separate distillation machine in the alchemy lab. I wasted time looking for a flask earlier.

“What is the ultimate goal? If you distill this. Are there any diseases that can be cured by drinking pure alcohol?”

There is no such thing as a disease that can be cured by drinking alcohol… There are plenty of diseases that can be caused by drinking alcohol.

“No. Ethanol is used to disinfect things like hands and equipment. Sometimes it can even disinfect contaminated wounds.”

“Aha.”

The still is for rent.

****

The still was operating normally.

“There is a saying that is passed down in connection with World War II, whether it is a joke or a serious one. The Soviet Army used vodka for everything from boosting morale to disinfecting wounds, as a substitute for gasoline, for cleaning, as antifreeze, and as a painkiller.”

“That, I don’t know what that is.”

Istina scratched her head.

“Even if it sounds like a joke, there is some truth to it. Ethanol with a purity of over 75% can catch fire, disinfect wounds, and even make you drunk.”

When a professor speaks, you listen. Whether you can understand the content is a secondary issue.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, but you’re saying that ethanol is useful?”

I’m glad Istina understands what I’m saying. Even if she doesn’t understand, it’s good that she listens attentively. I nodded.

Istina held up a bottle of distilled ethanol.

Come to think of it… … . We still don’t know if it’s ethanol. It might be a solution with a concentration not much different from vodka.

“But, Professor. This looks exactly like water. It smells a bit like alcohol, though.”

There are many ways.

Of course, we don’t have any equipment to measure the concentration of ethanol in this solution, but we don’t need any extremely precise observation equipment.

To indirectly estimate how much ethanol is in the result, simply measure the volume and weight of the result, since ethanol liquid has a lower density than water.

To put it as simply as possible, the density of ethanol is about 0.8, and the density of water is about 1. The closer the density of the solution we made is to 0.8, the better it is.

“What is the density of the result?”

“Okay, I’ll weigh it now.”

Density is weight divided by volume.

Istina held the scales and pondered.

The volume is written on the flask. The weight can be measured on a scale. Just subtract the weight of the flask. How much does the flask weigh?

After a while, Istina opened her mouth.

“Uh, the density of the result seems to be a little less than 1 kilogram per liter. Calculating the volume is a little vague though.”

“Look.”

I checked the calculation again.

The density of the calculated result is 0.85.

Although it is impossible to calculate the purity of the ethanol based on the density here, it is clear that this is a high concentration ethanol solution.

The density of water is about 1, and the density of pure ethanol is roughly 0.8. It would be more than 75% ethanol, which is suitable for disinfection. If there was something that could be used as a substitute for glycerol, it would be possible to make hand sanitizer.

Let’s think about that later. I can’t remember what glycerol is or how to make it. It’s not really an essential ingredient.

“Well, this is good enough.”

Istina nodded.

I even figured out how to make a disinfectant.

“Istina. But isn’t vodka itself a drink made by diluting high-purity alcohol to a drinkable concentration?”

“Oh, right?”

Was I just wasting my time? Istina shook her head. I should have tried making vodka before.

“Yeah… … . Anyway. The important thing is not making alcohol, but being able to use the alcohol you make for disinfection.”

“I think so!”

Istina was clearly about to move on. From now on, I’ll just buy distilled vodka. One less annoying thing.

****

Now we need a microscope, because if we can’t prove the existence of germs, we can’t explain why we need disinfectants.

Or agar culture media. Either one is necessary to properly demonstrate the presence of bacteria. If possible, both are necessary.

There’s still a long way to go until class starts… … Let’s think about it some more.

“Istina, do you know what seaweed is?”

“What is that? Is it seaweed?”

Come to think of it, I don’t think you necessarily need agar plates. You can probably use any carbohydrate powder, like you would for making acorn jelly.

Cornmeal or something.

“Istina. Go and get some soybean flour and corn flour later. We need them to make a bacterial culture medium.”

“Does that make bacteria grow?”

Well, it won’t grow. It’s true that I used culture media and culture bottles many times when I was at the university hospital, but they usually come as ready-made products.

I haven’t had many opportunities to make culture media. In fact, the only times I’ve actually made my own culture media were when I was in high school and in college.

Since soybeans are high in protein, they seem like a good source of nutrients for culture media. You won’t know until you try it yourself.

Unfortunately, no matter how you make the culture medium, it is still far from being used clinically. The types of bacteria that can be cultured vary depending on the characteristics of the culture medium, but I can’t think of any way to distinguish between them.

I guess I’ll have to think about that too.

“Oh, right. Get me some magnifying glasses tomorrow. You need at least three, right?”

Istina tilted her head.

“Okay, where should I get it from?”

You know, I’m not?

****

How to put an elephant in the refrigerator?

Have the graduate students do it.

The important thing is not whether a graduate student can put an elephant in a refrigerator. What a graduate student cannot do is something that humans cannot do, so if a graduate student says that it cannot be done, it is impossible.

Graduate students are not slaves.

Slaves need to be fed, given a place to sleep, and given a marriage partner by their masters. Graduate students don’t eat, don’t sleep, and needless to say, get married…

anyway.

Bring soybean flour, cornmeal, and a magnifying glass.

These three things turned out to be things that humans can do. Since there are petri dishes and kettles in the lab to begin with, making culture media from now on will not be a problem.

Making a microscope with a magnifying glass might be a bit difficult. Let’s start with the easy part first.

“Professor, I’m sorry, but when will you see the patient?”

What are you talking about? There are no patients in front of me. My ward isn’t even open yet.

“Does it sound weird to call it a field trip? Anyway, before you start working in earnest, you can go to the hospital, right? You have to prepare for the ward work too.”

Come to think of it, that might be better.

“You make the culture medium later. I’ll make the microscope later.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Istina nodded vigorously. Let’s get ready to go to work at the hospital.