Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: But Whose Corpse Is This? (2)
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Death, corpses, and healers.
Sometimes I think about it. Given that countless people come to the hospital to die, and we escort them on their way to the afterlife, we're no different from grim reapers.
Escorting souls to the afterlife. Today's work is just an extension of that. Though today it's not a patient, but seeing off someone already dead.
Corpse dissection.
Estina Ivyheart tilted her head.
"Estina. I told you last time, remember? Structure and function are closely related. Check the entrances to each blood vessel. See that split there?"
She was referring to the valves where the major blood vessels connect to the heart.
"Yeah."
"So, Estina. What direction would a structure like that block blood from flowing?"
Estina prodded the valve with her gloved finger. She still looked puzzled.
"Uh, hold on. This structure opens inward, so it blocks outflow, and this one opens outward so... Ah!"
Blood only moves in one direction.
"You get what it means for blood to flow now?"
"It's amazing."
There are things you can't discover without seeing them directly. The same goes for the heart: grasp its structure properly, and you understand its function accurately.
Touch an artery, and you can tell it's thicker than a vein. Slip a finger into a valve or pour water through, and you see why it's one-way traffic.
The heart feels fascinating to the touch. One of the body's toughest muscles, never resting for even a moment while alive.
Anyway.
Two holes for liquid out, two for in. From the structure alone, you can infer the heart doesn't make blood or send it somewhere— it circulates it.
I handed the heart back to Estina.
"See the four chambers? Two small ones where blood enters, two large ones where it exits."
"Yeah."
"Open it. Gotta look inside too."
Estina gripped the knife and sliced open the heart. It revealed the left ventricle, exposing the mitral valve and aortic valve. The key was their orientation.
Of course, the two valves faced opposite directions.
"See? The mitral valve only allows liquid in; the aortic valve only lets it out."
Opening the left ventricle reveals the mitral valve's structure. Its cusps connect to the inner ventricular wall via thick, ligament-like structures.
Meaning they withstand tremendous force.
"So, simply put, the heart pumps out exactly as much blood as comes in."
"Hmm."
"Claims that blood gets 'consumed' might sound reasonable on the surface, but crack it open and it falls apart."
"Is that so..."
That's the current academic consensus, though.
Experimental medicine hasn't taken root yet. Tissues 'consuming' blood feels like a better fit to them.
But reality says otherwise.
"You know from checking pulses or seeing major wounds, right? Blood isn't just pooled up— it surges."
Blood leaving the heart returns to it. Minor changes like nutrient and waste exchange might occur, but the principle holds.
"So, blood courses through vessels all over the body. Put the heart back in the chest cavity—"
Connective tissue isn't fully cleared yet, so it's not clear. No surprise— even my dissections took hours.
Can't rush it in minutes.
No helping it. I traced the aortic arch with my fingertip. Estina watched my finger.
"See here?"
"Yes."
"That thick, elastic vessel up top sending blood everywhere? The aorta. The vessel carrying blood back from the body is the vena cava— low pressure, so thinner walls, split into superior and inferior."
Still murky. I wiped my glove on some tissue, then tore away the blood-mixed connective tissue around the superior vena cava by hand.
"See now?"
"Ah... yeah."
"Follow the vessels. Blood heads out everywhere, returns via the right atrium to the right ventricle like this. From the right ventricle to the lungs, then back to the left ventricle where we started."
Estina raised a hand to scratch her head, but I tapped it away. She caught on and lowered it. Gloves soaked in blood and fluids— no touching your head with that.
Conditions are rough.
Back in the hospital for my dissections, I had full gear: disposable gown, face shield, mask, gloves.
Ours now? Pretty crude.
"Whoa, careful."
"Yes."
"So, Professor's blood circulation theory means blood loops through the lungs and body along these major vessels?"
A little off. Circulation's more intricate.
"Pulmonary and systemic circuits barely mix outside the heart. But yeah, that's the conclusion."
"Feels like more backlash than germ theory. Sounds too mechanical— liquid moving through pipes."
"Yeah?"
"Harder to swallow. Consensus views the body as a continuous whole where balance of elements matters, right?"
I think I've heard that.
Something about imbalances between components causing disease— classic theory. Four elements, four humors. Sanguine, melancholic, all that stems from it.
"So, clashing with academia again?"
Estina shook her head.
"Less clash, more like... fiercer debates than germ theory talks. Germs had immediate, proven results in Lapis territory, but..."
This time, no such luck.
Still, academia can't ignore experimental proof. Tons of evidence blood actually circulates.
Need to think this through.
Germ theory's ripples haven't settled. Most are still wrestling with microscopes and stains.
Can't just drop 'Everything you know about blood is wrong!' No one might bite, let alone test or refute.
"Still, I think Professor's right this time too. That blood pressure you were finding— quantifying blood speed inside, right? Meaning..."
"Yeah?"
"You're talking with something the Academy's level and tools couldn't even dream of."
"Not sure it's that extreme."
"To you, it's just common sense, like baking bread from flour?"
I don't see blood pressure as some unfathomable mystery. But yeah, unimaginable to the Academy or current academia.
Inevitable— blood theories need time to spread and verify. Academia isn't infinitely flexible.
Another paper in weeks? 'More nonsense? Persistent bastard.' Like last time.
Wait a few more days at least.
Problem is the cholera paper's slow rollout. Don't they fast-track ones that save lives?
I pondered how to explain.
"Remember taking that patient's pulse last time?"
"Yes."
Estina nodded.
"Palpate the carotid pulse, and you gauge venous pressure in the neck veins. Radial pulse tells the systolic range too."
Max carotid pulsation height, expressed as water column, is central venous pressure.
A palpable radial means systolic over 80.
By the way, doctors usually check the neck. Carotid's quickest and most accurate.
Those are rough blood pressure checks, but better than nothing. Like that splenectomy patient.
Can't remove an organ without solid grounds. Better confirm one more thing.
Sigh.
"Let's wrap up. Estina, tidy the corpse as best you can, heart in the alcohol jar. Preserving it for class."
This cadaver was poorly preserved— clotting inside and such. Structures weren't clear.
Wonder if I can snag a fresher one next? Want to bring it to class.
Shift gears: don't bring the cadaver, bring the students. Grab a fresh one and hold class down here in the dungeon? Need to mull it over.
Splash!
The sound of water, and the donor's heart plopped into the jar. Wait, thinking about it, not a donor this time.
Corpse contributor, maybe.
Estina looked uneasy, but she carefully lifted the jar with both hands.