Episode 88: Mercury. Mercury Chloride [2]
“Ugh!”
The screams echoing down the hallway were terrifying at first. It made sense. They were the sounds of someone being caught. It might seem like nineteenth-century doctors were a bit lazy, but their real fault was being unnecessarily diligent.
No… If you’re going to take a patient, shouldn’t you ask first? He’s not even our patient.
Another problem was unclear responsibility. There was no such thing as a medical lawsuit, and proper records of who had seen which patient and how were rare. If the patient beside me hadn’t told me just now, I, an insider, would have had someone taken away without even knowing it.
Clunk.
Anyway, I followed the screams to a room I had never seen before. At first glance, it looked gloomy, almost like a dissection lab. Did it make sense to have a dissection lab right next to the ward? In many ways, maybe it did.
“Oh.”
“Are you here?”
As I opened the door and stepped inside, a scene even more horrifying than I had imagined unfolded. Jémel was laughing. Killian trembled in fear before him, but Jémel didn’t care. Whatever the outcome, he seemed confident in his treatment.
No matter what…
We didn’t smile like that when wielding a knife during surgery. That was a maniacal, idiotic smile. And that was only the beginning. The real horror came next.
“What… what have you done?”
Killian was drooling. Why was it that in movies and dramas, people like this always died right after giving a sane-sounding warning? It was just like that. Of course, that was only possible in movies, but in reality, the harder you pushed, the more likely things were to go wrong.
“Haha. Do you know a drug called calomel?”
“Caramel…?”
Wasn’t that a snack, not a medicine? Brown, sweet, sticky. I had eaten caramel a few times, but it never looked like that. If food actually looked like that, it shouldn’t be sold anywhere.
“It’s mercury that has undergone some processing… It’s a cathartic drug.”
“Cathartic…?”
I had read that word all at once when I was young too. Especially in novels. I knew a good novel could provide catharsis, whether lowbrow or highbrow.
“What do you mean?”
I stepped closer. I wanted to check on Killian, but I was too scared. I was a surgeon, but this was my first time seeing something like this in real life. I was really scared…
“Uh, ah. This. This!”
“Right. Let’s see if he’s about to have a bowel movement. Good. Come as much as you want!”
“Ugh, ugh!”
Unfortunately, I didn’t get an answer to my question. The situation changed suddenly. Killian, who had been drooling like an unconscious person moments ago, suddenly grabbed his backside and started grunting like an angry puppy. No, he really was scared.
“Here, right here.”
Jémel said this while pointing to an exposed steel plate. Killian’s face showed a question mark. I had already reached my limit and couldn’t say anything meaningful, but anyone could recognize that look. What kind of crazy thing is this?
“Come here.”
Jémel calmly pointed at the iron plate.
“Uh huh.”
In the end, Killian gave in. Even the name Killian sounded strong, like an Irish sailor symbolizing toughness, but he pulled down his pants and squatted on the iron plate in front of many people. Then he excreted something indiscriminately.
It was black.
“The sap is coming out. Yes, pour out all the bad things inside you. If you do that, your syphilis will get better.”
“No. This…”
“This might be the first time you’ve seen this. It’s not a method I use often, haha. But the effect is certain.”
“What… this…”
This crazy man. There must have been a lot mixed into that. But I was sure there were no syphilis bacteria. No, that color wasn’t caused by bile. That color was something I had often seen while on duty in the emergency room.
Melena…
When people thought of bloody stool, they usually pictured red stool, but that only happened with bleeding from the anus, rectum, or colon. Bleeding from the upper abdomen or upper gastrointestinal tract tended to turn black because the water in the blood was absorbed and the iron oxidized. It wasn’t completely black, but shiny, like black bean noodles.
“Killian, aren’t you dizzy?”
“I’m dizzy… Eww…”
That textbook image was right here. I didn’t know if the medicine’s ingredients were caramel or butter, but it seemed to be causing gastrointestinal bleeding. At the same time, it increased intestinal activity, causing excretion like this. In short, something serious had happened.
“Your face has turned white. Good.”
Meanwhile, Jémel looked happily at Killian, whose face had paled from acute bleeding. I wondered if he had received some kind of order.
Torture… Is this something like that?
Were they trying to torture and kill him under the pretense of treatment? If so, my attitude and actions now were completely justified. Otherwise, no one should do this to another person, right?
“Same as usual, Professor.”
“Okay, take note. Calomel is very effective as a laxative. Should I try selling it outside?”
“Do you think it will sell well?”
Ah. They were just devils. I listened to the conversation while checking Killian’s condition. I feared calomel might affect me like other poisons, so I put on the gloves I was carrying. They were a little dirty since I used them for protection, not disinfection, but if I were Killian, I would appreciate even this much concern.
“Are you okay? Just sit down here. No, don’t come closer…”
“Eww… Thanks… Thank you… Please, me here…”
Had you ever seen a grown adult beg? And this was a man who looked rough to anyone. I didn’t know about others, but it was my first time. My mind felt strange. Did I want to help somehow?
“If my bread rots, I’ll pick it clean and come back, so hold on until then.”
Then I remembered the bread rotting all over my senior’s house. Wouldn’t one of those molds be Penicillium, the raw material for penicillin? Of course, you would end up eating some bad stuff too. As for bad stuff, I had already had enough.
“No… no… all of you bastards…”
Killian misunderstood my words and screamed. Well, stale bread didn’t have a good connotation. Still, I couldn’t forgive him for ignoring my favor…
“Good. Before this effect wears off completely.”
Just as I was about to feel sorry for Killian, one of Jémel’s assistants walked up boldly, as if he couldn’t smell anything, and pulled up Killian’s pants.
“No, at least give him a chance to clean up.”
Because the stool was so loose, it must have been buried deep… There was no use saying this. If even one person cared about cleanliness, the hospital beds here wouldn’t be covered in pus. Meanwhile, Joseph Lister, Alfred, and I diligently washed our hands and changed sheets. In some ways, that was closer to heresy than a miracle. Most people then were not just uninterested in hygiene, but acted as if cleanliness itself was wrong. The problem was that even doctors acted this way…
“Now… go in!”
While I was talking and Killian was protesting, he was suddenly pushed into another room inside the same room.
“Uh…”
There was something like a coffin in that room. No, was it a coffin? Was this an execution? Just as I was thinking that, the assistants opened it. Something was inside. It looked beautiful in its own way to the naked eye.
“This…”
“Quicksilver… It’s mercury. It’s precious. It’s not easy to get.”
It didn’t seem easy. Mercury was treated as precious, nicknamed quicksilver or fast-moving silver. Of course, it was still valued in some industries today, but mercury’s heyday was clearly in a barbaric era like this one.
“Go in!”
“Yes? Where… why are people here now?”
“Don’t worry. There’s a hole for your face so you can breathe. You’ll just soak.”
“So… why…?”
“It’s therapy. I know. I already know this man is bad. But as doctors, we must do our best to treat patients. Don’t think of it as a waste.”
“No… it’s not like that… no…”
I tried to stop him, but it was no use. Jémel and I were talking past each other. There was no point in persuading him.
Damn this. While I hesitated, Killian lay down in the coffin.
“Ugh, ugh!”
“Uh… shut up. Do you know how much valuable mercury this contains?”
“Ha…”
There were some inappropriate threats. Mercury should not be added like that. Was it really all right to submerge a person’s body in mercury?
Maybe this is where the saying “dipping people” comes from…
The situation was so bad it made me think that. Killian, exhausted from days of torture and covered in blood, soon lay obediently in the coffin.
“Just stay like this for a while.”
“What effect will this have?”
I became a little curious. Not because I thought the treatment worked. It wouldn’t. Only side effects would come of this. Still, these people must have faith in it, right? Even though he was a doctor, he believed in this. So I asked.
“Effect? Of course. He starts drooling… and the bacteria inside boil up and come out.”
“Yes… okay.”
“Mercury also comes from the ground. There’s nothing bad about it.”
“Yes, yes.”
Naturally, something ridiculous came out. But weren’t the doctors here the same people who watched mothers die repeatedly and blamed it on air or the energy of the universe?
Today… when I get home, I’ll immediately look for the rotten bread.
I looked at poor Killian and started thinking about the stale bread I would give him.
Footnote 1 — Translator’s Notes
Calomel — Mercury chloride compound historically used as a purgative and treatment for various diseases, including syphilis. It is toxic.
Cathartic drug — Strong laxative or purgative used to force bowel movements.
Melena — Black, tarry stool caused by bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract.
Upper gastrointestinal tract — The upper part of the digestive system, including the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine.
Gastrointestinal bleeding — Bleeding anywhere in the digestive tract. Black stool often suggests upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
Bile — Digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. The narrator clarifies that Killian’s black stool is not simply bile.
Laxative — Substance that stimulates bowel movements.
Quicksilver — Historical name for mercury, referring to its liquid, fast-moving appearance.
Mercury bath — Historical mercury-based treatment in which the patient was exposed to or soaked in mercury; dangerous and toxic.
Penicillium — Mold genus associated with the discovery and production of penicillin.
Penicillin — Antibiotic derived from mold, later used to treat bacterial infections such as syphilis.