episode_0141

Episode 141. The Discovery of Electricity (3)

****

“Of course we should study together.”

Professor Bernstaffen, who came to my lab, answered quickly and cheerfully, but then made a puzzled expression.

“But. Do I look like a graduate student?”

“No. Because I need a graduate student.”

I felt it was a pity that no graduate students were coming in. It is true that we need someone to research batteries together this time.

No one has come since Amy.

I don’t understand why. We give graduate students a lot of money and many opportunities to study research and learn techniques, so what’s the problem with them not coming?

Professor Klaus saved another graduate student last week. Is there a secret?

“Well, if the professor teaches or makes you do hospital work… …. The workload must be several times more than that of other graduate students.”

“Would you like to be a graduate student?”

“No… ….Are you kidding?”

I asked him out of curiosity, but Professor Bernstaffen’s response was short. I scratched my head.

“Yes, I’m joking.”

anyway.

Professor Bernstaffen’s eyes sparkled.

A scholar is… … not a profession that has many bright-minded people. Professors are even more so, but Professor Bernstaffen seemed to be a bit of an exception.

“I’ve heard a lot about the professor. I heard that he received a great reward from the royal family for treating the princess and developing a new medicine.”

“Similar.”

“I was curious about who he was. I was also curious about why Professor Asterix insisted on submitting a paper to a different department. I heard he visited other physics professors as well.”

That’s right. Most of the professors in the physics department rejected my offer to do research with them.

Maybe it was because he didn’t like the idea of a professor in a completely unrelated field trying to steal the spotlight. There might have been other reasons.

That’s because the field of this discovery is physics. There was no special reason. Anyway, it’s fortunate that we saved one person.

“Anyway, let’s take a look at the battery.”

I placed the voltaic cell on the desk.

Professor Bernstaffen opened his eyes wide and stared intently at the strange-looking machine.

As if trying to analyze the contents of the battery.

****

Scholars are a lot of strange people.

Professor Bernstaffen was a rare normal person among the professors at the Academy, and he experienced this fact every day.

When the academic personality overlaps with the authority that comes with being a professor, you end up in a situation where you don’t have to worry about what other people think. Scholars who already have strange personalities become even stranger.

If we go one step further from here… … .

The professors of the Department of Healing are even worse. Scholars are basically strange in personality, and because of their title as professors, they don’t have to worry about what other people think.

Because of the special nature of dealing with human lives, something like a god complex develops.

That was what Professor Bernstaffen thought when he saw Asterix, even though he was not yet at the age where his personality became particularly eccentric.

This is probably the reason why other physics professors refused to co-author with Professor Asterix, which at first glance seemed like a good opportunity.

Because he is such an unpredictable person.

Still, things seemed okay so far.

Professor Bernstaffen analyzed the mechanism. Several metal plates were stacked like large coins. Wires were connected to both ends of the metal plates. It was a simpler structure than he had thought.

****

Professor Bernstaffen looked at the battery. It was a simple mechanical device, but no one in the world had ever made one.

“That’s it. If you bring the two ends of a wire connected to a machine device close together, you can see a small lightning bolt? Without magic?”

I nodded.

“What is the principle?”

“You know that copper corrodes when you put it in salt water? As it corrodes, the energy stored in pure copper is released.”

“Aha. I see.”

Professor Bernstappen fiddled with the battery and brought it to the frog leg he had opened earlier. The frog leg twitched again. Professor Bernstappen was amazed.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then, is the power that moves the frog’s muscles electric? Is it similar for humans?”

I shook my head. You wouldn’t see this effect if you used frog legs that were dead for a few hours, not fresh ones.

When the chemical that directly moves the muscles, ATP, is depleted, the muscles stop moving.

Electricity only transmits signals, but it is chemical energy that actually moves the muscles.

“Electricity just transmits signals to move. Moving is another matter.”

“Well, I guess so.”

“If you apply electricity to a human like a frog, will their muscles move? Of course they would, right?”

“It may be difficult to distinguish between muscle contraction due to pain and muscle contraction due to electrical stimulation, but they will contract according to the same principle.”

Professor Bernstaffen thought for a moment.

“If you can stack metal plates to make a battery, what if you could also make a battery using a combination of other materials instead of zinc and copper?”

That’s right.

Professor Bernstaffen tilted his head.

“But. What should I study?”

“Let me think about it. First, I will write a paper about frogs. Professor Bernstaffen, write a paper about batteries. Let’s do that, and then we can publish it as a joint author.”

“Okay.”

There was no reason for Professor Bernstaffen to suffer. I had fed him the core ideas, and he just had to write them down.

I just needed an easy way to get into physics societies. I also didn’t want to bother writing physics papers, which were outside my field of expertise.

“Then, if you tell me how to make a battery, I will study the improvements.”

The method of making a battery was very simple. I nodded.

“It’s simple. Cross the zinc and copper plates, and put paper soaked in salt water between the metal plates. The more, the better.”

“It’s easier than you think?”

“You can take that.”

Professor Bernstaffen nodded.

“If you showed me that you could make that without magic, the physics world would give you a standing ovation. But I wonder if it would be of any practical use.”

“I will find it.”

“Ah… … .There was a rumor like that! Wherever Professor Asterix goes, the academic society becomes a mess. Now I can see why.”

What does that mean?

“Uh, why?”

“If you can turn other academic fields upside down like this, I can’t even imagine how much of a mess you’ve made in the medical field.”

Professor Bernstaffen packed a battery in his bag.

“Then. I’ll go now. Next time, I’ll analyze this battery and bring you a physics paper, with some foundation!”

The physics professor left his lab.

****

I’m almost done with my schedule for today, but there’s one more thing left to do. One of my patients is almost better, and it’s time for him to be discharged.

I walked to the front of the ward.

Sebastian. The father of the patient who was admitted to the hospital with meningitis last time was in front of the hospital.

Sebastian himself didn’t seem to be that kind of person, but Sebastian’s father, who came to visit today, seemed to be a rather wealthy person. That must be it.

I’m beginning to understand how this patient progressed from sepsis to meningitis.

Perhaps he had a lot of money. He could have controlled his body temperature with dedicated nursing, or hired other healers.

Then it didn’t work out so he came to me.

“Hello. Are you my father?”

“How is the child?”

Sebastian’s father looked worried, but there was nothing to worry about.

The patient’s condition is almost completely resolved. Since there is no way to test the inflammation level, we just held him for a few more days just in case.

If it was bad news, it would have been difficult to deliver. There is a difference in the weight of a child hearing about their parent’s illness and a parent hearing about their child’s illness.

But not today.

Mr. Sebastian was getting better.

“Recovering. You’ll be okay.”

“What is the disease? Is it serious?”

It was a serious illness.

Not really right now, though.

“I had a serious illness, but I’m feeling a little better now. It’s called meningitis, and it’s a bacterial infection of the membranes surrounding the brain.”

“Is this a fatal disease?”

I shook my head. This is the reaction that many patient caregivers have. When you tell them that they have a serious illness, they ask if they will die. Of course they are curious.

However, it is not possible to say that a serious illness is not serious. It is a kind of dilemma.

The rule is to be honest about everything. Even a white lie can have a negative impact on a relationship of trust. It is a rule to arbitrarily judge and tell a white lie.

“If you get treatment on time, it’ll be fine. You’re really glad you came early. If you’re not careful, you could have hurt your head because of meningitis.”

It’s healed well now, but the guardian’s expression is just now starting to relax.

“Thank goodness… … . It’s okay, right?”

“I think it’s okay to be discharged now, but just in case, I’ll wait one more day.”

“How can I express my gratitude… … .”

“I’ll just accept your heart. There may be a law that says you can’t accept something like that, I don’t know for sure. ”

The guardian repeatedly expressed his gratitude, and after a long time of reassuring me that I would be okay, I was finally able to get the old man away.