episode_0066

Episode 66. Fleming, Alexander Fleming (1)

****

The bag of cookies that Istina had bought again was placed on one side of the lab. Istina followed me with a cookie in her mouth.

“Where are you going now?”

“Warehouse. To show you something important.”

This is the Academy’s basement warehouse.

Istina and I stopped in front of the warehouse door. The iron door was firmly locked with a padlock.

“Eat the cookies quickly and clean them up. You have to wear a mask to enter the warehouse here… … .”

“Is it dangerous?”

“No. It’s a bit dusty.”

There were also some mold spores flying around inside. We wore our plague doctor masks as usual-

The warehouse door opened with a creaking sound. Inside the warehouse, bread was piled up.

This is the bread I saved to grow blue mold on. The conditions were right, and instead of just rotting, blue mold grew on it successfully!

Of course, it’s just blue mold for now. I have no way of knowing which strain has bactericidal power. I’ll have to check to find out.

“Coolook, someone stacked up all the bread.”

“I brought it.”

I think it will take a few weeks for the blue mold to properly gather. These are breads that I put out a long time ago. I had half forgotten about them.

I think I’ve grown a lot by now.

Now, we just need to somehow find a strain of blue mold that has bactericidal properties.

“Everything is damaged. Don’t speak.”

“Istina. What color is this mold?”

“I don’t know. Green?”

“Right, it’s blue.”

Istina tested the mold strain.

“Somewhere in this warehouse, there must be a strain of blue mold growing that makes penicillin.”

“How can I find it?”

“It’s simple. You grow them one by one in a culture dish with bacteria. If there’s a culture dish where bacteria don’t grow, that’s the golden goose.”

Istina exclaimed softly.

“That’s right! If you check them one by one, you can definitely find them- Ah.”

Istina suddenly stopped talking as if she realized something. No, I feel a little sorry. I have grown the blue mold, so shouldn’t Istina be the one looking for it?

“Right. If we grow each blue mold one by one, we can find a strain that has the traits we want, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Istina.”

“Yes… … .”

Istina let out a sigh. Still, wouldn’t the work be finished in a week? Since I’ve grown so many blue mold strains.

Anyway, this is my goal for the time being.

Finding a strain of blue mold that produces an antibacterial substance would be the first step in the discovery and use of penicillin.

I say this every time I submit a paper, but this time, it will truly be a study that will change the world. It was like that in my world too.

Just wait a moment, Mr. Fleming. I will bring penicillin to this world.

****

I left the lab to Istina. I stepped into the ward. I had to check if Eleanor was okay and when she would be discharged.

This is the ward.

A while ago, a knight named Eleanor was admitted to the ward. She was treated for traumatic cardiac tamponade after being attacked by a monster.

I was worried for a long time because we hadn’t found a way to stop the bleeding inside the pericardium. Contrary to my fears, Eleanor was fine.

“Hello, patient.”

“Yes.”

“Have you eaten?”

Eleanor nodded.

“Do you still have chest pain or heart palpitations?”

“No, I think it’s okay now.”

“Doesn’t your fever rise?”

“Yes, there was nothing like that.”

There’s no sepsis. We’ll have to be conservative and wait a few days.

“But I didn’t have time yesterday so I couldn’t think about it. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Yes.”

“Did you really open your heart?”

“The membrane surrounding the heart was opened.”

“Do you usually do that kind of treatment?”

Don’t do that in this world.

Throughout the Middle Ages and even into the early modern period, many physicians believed that thoracic and abdominal surgery would never be possible or useful.

Even if it were possible, I thought it would be very painful, difficult, and with a high probability of failure.

This was largely true until anesthesia and surgical hygiene were discovered.

For that reason, heart surgery did not become widely used until the 20th century.

Eleanor too. If the pericardiocentesis had not restored her vital signs, what could have happened? We might have had to do a thoracotomy to find the vascular injury somewhere. We might have had to let her die.

“Normally I don’t do that.”

“Whoa… …. It’s a good thing you came to me, teacher. If you had gone to someone else, you could have died, right? The condition you were in when you came here injured.”

Physical pressure on the heart isn’t something that can be solved with medicine or magic. If I had gone to another healer, I would have died that day, probably.

I nodded.

“Ah. Thanks to the teacher in the journalism department, there were more than a few people who saved their lives, right? Last time, there was a classmate who broke his arm, a classmate who had his liver removed, and a classmate who had his leg bandaged.”

“That’s right.”

So stop getting hurt, you motherfuckers.

I don’t know what you do on a daily basis that makes you end up in a coma and being brought to the hospital every day.

“Looking at your condition, I think you can be discharged tomorrow. If you are sick, come to the hospital right away and take your medicine.”

Eleanor nodded with a bright expression. Still, I’m glad the procedure was successful.

****

Knock knock.

Istina opened the lab door at the sound of a knock. On the other side of the lab door, there was a person who appeared to be her junior.

Are you a new graduate student?

Istina tried hard to suppress the smile that was about to spread. What if he sensed something strange and ran away? That would be a problem.

“Oh my, you’re my junior. Come in.”

“My name is Amy… …!”

“Come in and sit down.”

Istina left the door wide open.

Amy sat down in front of the lab sofa with a shaky expression. Her hands were fine, her legs were fine, and her eyes were fine. That was enough to pass.

“I like our lab.”

“Oh, yes.”

“They have a lot of research achievements, and the professors are kind and explain things well.”

“Oh my goodness.”

Amy nodded as if she was glad. Istina smiled meaningfully.

“What do you usually do in the lab?”

“Our job is one of three things. We have to see patients in the ward, participate in research, and attend classes or help out.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.”

“Fun… … . It’s fun, right?”

It might seem fun to an outsider, but Istina is now used to it and tired of it, so it’s hard to find it fun.

“What are you researching these days?”

“Ah.”

Istina also didn’t know exactly what kind of research it was. It was research to grow mold and extract a substance that would kill bacteria.

“They say they will grow mold and find a panacea that kills bacteria from the mold.”

“Is that possible? That’s amazing.”

“Right.”

Amy’s reaction was so excited that Istina’s shoulders naturally rose. Although Istina didn’t know if it was really possible.

“Then. Were you planning to start your penicillin research today? While you’re here, Amy, help me out a bit. I’ll give you a grad student’s allowance.”

Amy nodded.

Three hours later.

The task was simple in the end. All that was needed was to extract the blue mold from the bread that was stored in the warehouse and inoculate it into the center of a bacterial culture medium.

The problem is, you never know which loaf of bread the mold will come from, and in the warehouse, there are literally hundreds and thousands of loaves of bread the size of your fist.

“581st… ….”

“582nd… ….”

“583rd… ….”

Istina stared at the hundreds of petri dishes piling up on the lab bench. It might not take long, as expected.

It might end today.

I can’t help but be tired. But it wasn’t a difficult task, so it’s a blessing in disguise.

“Is that how it is usually?”

“No. This is the research we are doing this time.”

“I see.”

“A few days ago, I saw some injured people from the monster hunting festival. One person is still hospitalized. He had heart surgery.”

“Do you also do heart surgery?”

“Our professor did it. To be exact, he didn’t fix the heart, but cut the pericardium surrounding the heart, but still.”

That was amazing to see, even to Istina.

It was a strange thing.

Some academics are still fighting over the principles and processes of blood circulation.

“How much culture dish is left?”

“Fill in just a thousand.”

It’ll just take another hour or so of work.

The results of the culture will be out in two days. The professor said that about one in 200 blue molds will produce a substance that kills bacteria.

“678th… ….”

“679th… ….”

“680th… ….”

Although there was no specific basis for the claim, Istina decided to believe it for now. Professor Asterix had never been wrong.

It’s going to be a long and arduous task.