episode_0144
by fnovelpiaEpisode 144. Power in the Box (1)
****
Professor Bernstaffen sat in the front row. Unlike her, most of the people invited to this place were professors of medicine and physiology.
Professor Bernstaffen is an exception.
Although it was a medical conference, Professor Bernstappen thought he had a good reason to attend the presentation as he was one of the co-authors of the paper.
Even frog legs are ultimately a means of making visible the invisible force called electromagnetic force.
Professor Asterix’s study of physiology also seemed interesting. Looking at the dissected human or frog corpses, it may be closer to dark curiosity than simple fun… … .
There are few topics as interesting as death.
Anyway, Professor Bernstappen reported that this experiment was very successful. Static electricity, interaction between metals, lightning.
Not only was everything tied to the single concept of ‘electricity’, but it was also made controllable thanks to Professor Asterix’s mechanical device.
Without using magic.
It was a bit absurd.
It was a subject that the physics community had been pursuing for so long, but it was discovered by a scientist with no interest in physics while cutting up a frog.
Why the frog of all people?
But there was no way to refute it. The physiological details were beyond Professor Bernstaffen’s knowledge. Didn’t he see the blue power rippling between the copper wires?
Although smaller than a fingernail, Professor Asterix managed to confine the power of lightning within a barrel.
Humanity has finally, as of today, acquired one of the powers of the heavens: lightning, trapped in a barrel without magic. Isn’t that poetic?
****
The atmosphere in the auditorium was not good.
It was noisy because of the rumbling.
The criticism seemed to be mainly about, ‘How can it be that so many coincidences overlap and such bold discoveries are made so many times?’
That’s true. How can I explain it so that the people gathered here will understand?
I scratched my head. Everyone seemed more distrustful than usual. Perhaps it was the same in other fields, but persuasion might not be easy.
First, let’s unfold the logical structure again.
I opened my mouth, looking at Professor Amiya, who had been the loudest critic, while mentally organizing the logical progression of the presentation.
“So. By studying the structure of the nerves through dissection, we confirmed that the nerves connect the brain to the entire body, but they are not hollow and do not transmit the flow of liquid.”
“Yes.”
“Through previous research and observation, we have established that nerves transmit signals within the human body.”
Professor Amiya nodded slowly.
“Then, he discovered that when he pricked a frog on a copper plate with a zinc knife, electricity was generated and the frog’s muscles moved.”
“Yes, that makes sense.”
Then the next thing should make sense.
“I’m trying to say that I’ve created a machine that generates electricity using copper and zinc, and that I’ve proven that electricity can move frog muscles in a controlled environment.”
Professor Amiya was still sitting in front, arms folded, thinking. As if he was trying to find something he was wrong with. I don’t know if he found it though.
“Sigh.”
“Please speak.”
I waited for a moment.
Professor Amiya opened his mouth.
Step one.
“Although you said that nerves do not mediate the flow of fluid, there are several ventricles in the brain, and there is a structure called the central canal in the center of the spinal cord cross-section.”
A question about the cerebrospinal fluid that holds the brain and spinal cord. Although this is a well-founded objection, cerebrospinal fluid does not flow inside the nerves.
It’s just flowing around there.
“It is difficult to see this structure as transmitting the flow of liquid. If you look at the cross section of the spinal nerve under a microscope, most of the nerves are not tube structures. The spinal cord has holes, but it is not a tube.”
Second step.
“Copper and zinc, and frogs too. Isn’t there some weak evidence that frog legs are affected by those two substances? Can you tell the difference between pain stimulation and that?”
This is a comment that comes from a lack of understanding of the potential of elements and metals. I don’t have it all memorized, so how should I explain it?
“If you cut off a frog’s head, it’s hard for it to respond to a painful stimulus. For that to happen, its legs have to move after the skin is removed.”
This means that it is not an electrical signal that moves the frog’s muscles, but rather one of the stimuli present during the experiment.
“You can have a comparison group. You can try poking it with a wooden stick. You can verify it experimentally. Of course, since the battery has already been made, I think the verification is almost complete.”
“I see… … .”
We have already built a machine that can deliver electrical stimulation and induce muscle contractions in living frogs. This can be easily verified.
Professor Amiya pondered for a while as if trying to find something to criticize, then sat back down, as if he had nothing left to say.
I checked the audience’s reaction again.
“Does anyone have any more questions?”
“I’m here.”
It was Professor Klaus. This man is not the type of person to ask questions, so it was surprising.
“Please speak.”
“How do you think muscles and nerves are connected? Have you found that, too?”
“Good question.”
I pasted the picture I had drawn on the blackboard.
“To put it simply, when you look at it under a microscope, the nerves are just attached to the muscles like clubs. Istina. Did we bring that?”
Microscopic specimen of the neuromuscular junction.
“Oh, yes!”
Istina ran over and placed the microscope she had focused on down on the table in front of her.
Professor Klaus looked into the microscope.
“What is this?”
“This is the neuromuscular junction, the part where the nerve and muscle meet in the arm of a human corpse, observed under a microscope. What function can be predicted from the structure of the neuromuscular junction?”
There was no answer in return.
I looked at Istina.
“Uh, I think it’s a structure for sending signals rather than exchanging materials, but I don’t know.”
It wasn’t a very satisfactory answer.
No, Istina, how can you have such a low level of understanding even though we studied together?
“Well. As you can see, the nerves are just like sticks that connect to the muscles. This is another proof that nerves are structures that only transmit signals, not the flow of liquid.”
The professors looked at the microscopes one by one.
I waited a moment while the people gathered looked at the microscope. There were only twenty people today, so it didn’t take long.
“Are there any more questions?”
There were no questioners.
****
We’re almost done, but the most shocking part of the presentation still remains: the practical applications of this technology. Since it’s closer to physics or engineering than medicine, I’ll go into detail there.
I think I’ll get the point out here. We should record in history who first invented the telegraph.
“Then. Let’s move on to the next discovery.”
“Are there any more discoveries?”
I scratched my head.
“As you saw earlier, you can use batteries to move animal muscles. The principle would be similar in living animals, right?”
Of course, the way nerves create potentials and electrical signals is a bit different from the way wires do, but the basic principle is the same. Even the nerves are surrounded by cells that act as insulators.
“On the other hand, this also shows that the heart does not have the function of processing information, but is an organ that simply receives orders from the brain. Because the heart does not have many organs that process information.”
Now that we have some new information, it’s time to clear up some of the medical myths of the past.
The unit in the human body that processes information is the nerve.
“So, most of the higher thinking and conscious activities seem to take place in the brain. To put it a bit abstractly, you could say that the soul is in the brain.”
Professor Amiya, who was sitting in front, nodded reluctantly. It seemed like he understood now.
The brain, which has the most neural tissue, is where information is processed and decisions are made.
“If there were a way to transmit information almost instantly within the human body, it wouldn’t be difficult to replicate it through engineering, especially if you combined it with magic or alchemy.”
The idea is this: if we could transmit information signals along the path where nerves connect.
“I’ll tell you guys. The metal used to create the electric signal is copper. If you pull the copper out like a thread, you can use it as a wire.”
For reference, the wire used in this experiment was just a copper wire. I didn’t prepare any insulator for this experiment.
“The nerves inside the human body are covered with fatty insulation, so if we cover the wires with rubber or paper, we can send signals, right?”
It can transmit signals over long distances.
There is only one limitation here: how long the wire can be pulled out. But pulling out a long wire is not as hard as you might think.
Considering that the British military connected the telegraph line from Geomundo to London during the Geomundo Incident in the 19th century, an empire might be possible.
Maybe not, though.
“Considering the reaction speed of nerves, isn’t information processing done in the blink of an eye anyway? The speed at which information is transmitted through wires is much faster than that.”
****
The presentation ended sooner than expected.
It was a completely different atmosphere from other academic conference presentations. Perhaps because no one was an expert in the field, no one tried to refute the latter part.
****
Violet raised her head at the sudden wind blowing through the window. For some reason, the prince’s headache got worse, and it felt like the history of academia was being rewritten.
and…….
The smell of money? I don’t know.
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