Episode 66: Brain Experts [4]
“Ohh…”
“Hmm.”
“Really?”
“That’s interesting.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Dr. Liston’s ability to handle people was almost magical. The speed with which he spun Joseph was completely different from earlier, when Joseph had been the one spinning Alfred. Honestly, it felt like I was watching someone about to pass out rather than experience a mere flight illusion. Joseph’s screaming had hit an alarming pitch, but the so-called “head experts” remained calm.
Lunatics…
It made sense, though. Weren’t the treatments they talked about several times more horrific than what Joseph was going through now? In their minds, this level of screaming didn’t even register on the scale.
Their calmness is… really something.
Well, what did I expect? These were men who thought death was just a minor inconvenience. Jémel, for example, once buried someone in a coffin who wasn’t even dead yet. And now all of them were here. That was the real problem.
Sigh.
I didn’t mean to sigh out loud, but I ended up yelling instead. If I didn’t stop this, Joseph really was going to die. Moderation. These people didn’t know the meaning of it.
“Professor! If you spin him any more, he’s going to die!”
“Oh.”
Oh? That was your response when someone was about to die? Anyway, Dr. Liston finally began slowing down. Only then could I see Joseph’s face properly, and his eyes were rolling around wildly. Actually, no, they were still spinning.
Whew…
“Joseph, look at me.”
His balance system must have gone completely haywire. Even standing still, the world probably looked like it was spinning. I didn’t even major in otolaryngology, and I knew this was serious.
Not that it mattered to the others. Especially not to Dr. Liston.
“Hey! Joseph!”
Oh God. He actually slapped him. And no one tried to stop him. Then again, this was the same man who once yanked out someone’s teeth to test a new Anesthetic. Back then, instead of stopping him, people actually lined up to volunteer.
“Ugh, ugh…”
It worked. With a slap from someone like Liston, you would either come to your senses or die. Luckily, Joseph woke up. His eyes were still swirling, but at least he was conscious.
“Still spinning? I feel so dizzy…”
“What do you mean? You’re not moving anymore. But earlier, did it feel like you were hanging upside down?”
Poor Joseph was still dizzy and now under pressure to give a proper answer, especially with Dr. Liston clenching and unclenching his fists while muttering.
“Y-Yes! Definitely! I still feel dizzy!”
“Ohh… So you knew it wasn’t happening, but it felt like it was?”
“Yes, that’s it! I’m sure!”
“Fascinating.”
Thankfully, Liston let go of Joseph’s collar and stood upright. Then he turned to the four “head experts.”
“What do you all think?”
“It may be a head-related issue,” one said.
“Yes, it’s like knowing something but still being deceived by it.”
“I still believe it’s more of a bodily issue… but there’s a chance.”
“Should we try electricity first?”
They all looked serious, even the one who suggested electricity. Liston, ignoring the ridiculous responses, asked another question.
“If this is all coming from the head, how do we treat it? It’s still not like we can avoid Amputation. If the leg is rotting, we can’t just leave it. And if this kind of patient keeps increasing, we need a solution.”
“We could try running electricity through it,” said Matthew, the electrotherapy doctor.
Now this guy was completely nuts.
“Electricity?”
“Yes. Sometimes when we run electricity through someone, the patient faints. It’s almost like the head turns off… then turns back on again.”
“…Turns off and on?”
What, like a machine?
Even Dr. Liston blinked at that one. Sure, modern medicine did have Electroconvulsive Therapy, and I had heard from a psychiatrist friend that it was effective for certain conditions like depression. But you had to be very careful with it.
“If it’s a mistaken perception… maybe we can just ‘reset’ the brain?”
Worryingly, the idea didn’t sound totally implausible to me either. As long as the electricity was applied safely…
“And what theory is this based on, exactly?”
Liston still pressed, ever the cautious surgeon. Matthew lit up, eager to explain.
“You’ve heard of frog legs twitching when shocked, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“If the nerves are stimulated, they move more. But not just muscles. Blood vessels have nerves too. Stimulate those, and the vessels contract or expand.”
“Hmm…”
Dr. Liston looked genuinely intrigued.
Honestly, so was I. I had thought he was insane, but now he almost sounded… competent.
“It’s already widely accepted that headaches result from blood rushing to the head.”
Ah. No, never mind. He was still obsessed with blood.
“That’s why I use this device.”
He eagerly pulled out a piece of paper and began sketching. At a glance, it looked like a chair.
Wait. This isn’t an electric chair, is it?
No way.
But it was.
“It’s an electric chair.”
I barely stopped myself from yelling at the patients to run. Thankfully, Dr. Liston wore the same expression I had. What is this maniac talking about?
“How do you get electricity?” he asked.
Why is that the question you ask…?
“We use eels.”
“Eels?”
“Yes. Eels imported from South America generate good voltage. If well-fed, they conduct electricity very well.”
“Ohh.”
No! Don’t get interested!
“How uncivilized.”
Finally, someone else chimed in. Dr. Thomas looked determined.
“Unscientific,” he said. “You’re seriously using eels? That’s absurd. If we’re going to knock someone out, my method is better.”
Not that his was any better.
“If you just increase the vibration, they’ll faint,” said one.
“No, no. I’ve done this a lot. If you bleed enough, they’ll definitely faint.”
Suddenly, the room was full of madmen talking about how best to make patients faint. Dr. Liston finally had enough.
“Okay, okay. Is there any other way? If it’s just about knocking them out, I could punch them myself.”
That shut them up. Liston’s clenched fist was more persuasive than any argument.
“Anyway… it was Dr. Pyeong who first suggested the idea that the head could be causing these illusions. Maybe he has a better solution.”
“Oh…”
“But…”
“He’s a reckless doctor.”
“Still lacks experience. Maybe… electricity…”
Surprisingly, Liston gave me the floor. The crazy electrotherapy doctor protested a little, but it didn’t matter.
Hmm…
My mind was spinning. Phantom pain wasn’t easy to treat, not with medicine, anyway. I didn’t even know what kinds they had here, and I certainly couldn’t make any myself.
The most effective treatment I had seen back in my time? VR.
That was the power of digital therapeutics. It used illusions to help the brain “see” the missing hand and trick itself out of pain. It wasn’t just theory. It actually worked.
But there’s no VR here…
Maybe I could make a hand model and dangle it? But it wouldn’t move.
Still… maybe I could use illusion another way.
“Professor,” I said aloud, “what if we try using illusion itself?”
“What do you mean?”
“We make a model, like a hand. Something visible. It confuses the brain. But when the patient tries to move it and nothing happens, the brain might realize the truth and snap out of the illusion.”
“…Hmm. What do you all think?”
Liston still looked skeptical, but more open than before.
“If it uses electricity, I’m interested.”
“Seems plausible.”
“Not hard to build. Worth a try.”
Even the others, aside from the electrotherapy doctor, gave cautious approval.
As for me, the one who came up with the idea, I was still full of doubt.
Still, I’ll give it a try. Maybe it’ll buy me time to refine it later.
At least now I knew one thing for sure: never again would I trust nineteenth-century “head experts.”
For anything.
If it involved the brain?
I’m on my own.
So damn lonely…
A small sigh escaped me.
Translator’s Notes:
Flight Illusion — A sensory illusion in which the brain misjudges motion, balance, or direction. Here, spinning Joseph recreates a crude version of that sensation.
Otolaryngology — The medical field dealing with the ear, nose, and throat. Also called ENT.
Anesthetic — A substance used to block pain during procedures or surgery.
Amputation — Surgical removal of a limb or body part.
Electrotherapy — Treatment using electrical stimulation. In this scene, it is treated as dubious nineteenth-century experimentation.
Electroconvulsive Therapy — A modern psychiatric treatment in which controlled electrical stimulation is used under medical supervision.
Electric Chair — A chair-like device used to apply electricity to a person. Historically, it is most strongly associated with execution, which is why the narrator reacts with alarm.
Digital Therapeutics — Medical treatments delivered through software or digital tools. The narrator connects this to modern illusion-based treatment.
VR — Virtual reality, a technology that creates simulated visual environments. Here, the narrator thinks of it as a modern tool for treating phantom pain.
Phantom Pain — Pain felt in a missing limb or body part after Amputation.