I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Discovery of Bacteria (3)

Istina suddenly looked up from the paper she was reading.

“Uh, well, if we had a very powerful magnifying glass, we might be able to see it.”

Istina roughly knew the answer.

“That’s right. As Mr. Oliver mentioned earlier, the best way to confirm the problematic particles is through sensory verification.”

I looked around the classroom.

“For the time being, my lectures will focus on proving the existence of these particles and identifying their characteristics. Please come forward.”

Oliver cautiously stepped forward. I placed the newly made microscope on the podium.

“Take a look.”

Due to issues with focus, glass transparency, and other problems, the microscope’s performance was unsatisfactory.

No hair dye either.

You won’t see bacteria with that microscope.

I’ve just focused on a water bear caught from the academy pond. For reference, a water bear is about 500 times larger than bacteria.

“Oh. I see something moving!”

“Right.”

Oliver took his eyes off the microscope.

“Is that the cause of the disease?”

“Oh, no. It’s just an example of a tiny organism.”

I turned to the students.

“Miss Istina. For any observed particle to be evidence of the cause of a disease, what characteristics must that particle satisfy?”

Istina frowned.

A look that said, why are you asking me?

“Uh, I’m not sure… It must have come from the patient, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Istina sighed in relief.

I picked up the chalk again.

– The cause of infectious diseases is particles.

This time, the girl sitting next to Oliver raised her hand. People do love to contradict others. If I had just said ordinary things, the students would all be dozing off.

Aren’t they listening to my lecture like sharks smelling blood, trying to find some error in my words? It’s a very positive situation.

“Alright. What’s your name, student?”

“My name is Amy.”

“Go ahead, Miss Amy.”

What a strange name.

“Diseases can occur in various places, but isn’t there no evidence that these particles you mentioned exist everywhere, Professor?”

“A valid criticism.”

I looked around the lecture hall.

“Then, how can we prove that particles exist in the air?”

“I don’t know.”

“As Oliver just saw, microorganisms are also living beings. They can also die from physical or chemical stimuli, can’t they?”

Amy nodded.

“By heating the samples to kill the microorganisms in both samples, and then comparing the sample exposed to air with the sample not exposed to air, right?”

“Ah, I see. You’re saying that if we boil the samples to kill the microorganisms, the sample that is sealed off from the air won’t decay, right?”

That’s correct.

I drew two flasks with chalk.

It’s Pasteur’s experiment.

An experiment that disproved spontaneous generation and proved that the cause of decay and disease is not the air itself, but the bacteria in the air.

Well, I should try this later.

“Let’s think a bit more. Is there any other way to prove the existence of particles?”

Again, Oliver raised his hand.

“Oliver.”

“If those particles are indeed causing the disease, shouldn’t we be able to see them in the patient’s wound?”

I nodded.

“Well… it’s a good idea, but…”

“Am I wrong?”

You’re right, but it’s not that simple. Bacteria and human cells are invisible without processes like staining. They’re transparent.

“Can you distinguish between the components of the patient’s body and the problematic particles, Dr. Oliver? There’s also the issue of equipment performance, and just because bacteria aren’t visible doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”

In reality, most bacteria and cells are completely invisible without staining. Oliver frowned after thinking for a moment.

I picked up the chalk again.

– Components and layers of the human body.

“Professor, then, what do the tiny components of a human look like?”

That’s a very good question.

“What do you think they look like? Everyone, think about it. What structure would the microscopic components of the human body need to have to most effectively support life activities?”

Oliver scratched his head.

“Uh…”

Surprisingly, there is an answer to this question.

There is a saying that anyone who has studied biology or physiology, even a little, would know.

The close relationship between structure and function.

It’s a proposition that is true at every level of biology.

From the structure of the lungs, which maximizes the surface area exposed to air, to the double helix structure of nucleic acids, which can easily unfold and stretch.

Naturally, the cell structure that all living organisms share is closely related to its function. Is cytology also an area that can be logically inferred? If you think about it, it might be.

Oliver ultimately couldn’t answer.

“Well… let’s think simply. You know that humans are 70% water, right?”

Oliver nodded.

“That doesn’t mean water leaks from our bodies. The structure that can hold a lot of water… Ms. Istina, tell us.”

“Uh, the sponge structure?”

“The sponge structure makes sense, but sponges drip water, so there must be membranes that prevent water movement. At various levels.”

I turned my gaze to the classroom.

“Amy. Summarize it for us.”

Amy cleared her throat.

“Since the human body is 70% water, it has a porous structure, but it is made up of microstructures with membranes that prevent water movement…?”

An excellent answer.

It was an excellent answer, but there’s one more issue to consider. At what level are these microstructures that prevent water movement, and at what level is the porous structure?

It’s complicated to answer.

The microstructures of semipermeable membranes within tissues that control water movement, that is, the size of cells, are roughly around a hundred micrometers.

The porous structure is a bit abstract, but you have to look at the tissue as a whole to understand the sponge structure macroscopically. This is on the order of a few millimeters.

It means the levels are different.

The porous structure of the human body is at the level where capillaries run, that is, on the millimeter scale. The semipermeable membranes of cells are on the nanometer or micrometer scale.

This time it was perfectly correct. Understanding the levels is necessary to derive cytology, but that’s not the important part.

This time, Istina raised her hand.

“What… is a layer?”

This is more purely scientific than medical. How do we structure and explain the human body as a system?

“A layer… it’s easier to think of it as a size, but the layer we’re talking about here also implies a level of organized information.”

Istina looked at me with blank eyes.

She didn’t seem to understand.

I drew a person on the blackboard.

“This is a person.”

Laughter erupted from various parts of the lecture hall. No, this isn’t meant to be funny. This needs to be explained from the basics.

“A person is made up of organ systems. Respiratory system, digestive system, these kinds of organ systems.”

“Ah, right.”

“Organ systems are made up of organs, and organs are made up of tissues. So, what units are tissues made up of?”

Istina blinked her blank eyes again. Organ systems, organs, tissues… so what?

I sighed.

“Istina, you graduated from undergrad, so why don’t you know anything properly? Oliver, answer.”

Amy looked at the professor who was teaching.

The professor from the rumors.

The professor from the Department of Healing who rode in the royal carriage and escorted the princess. Amy thought the rumors were exaggerated.

But now it seems they weren’t.

‘I have thought a lot about how I will conduct my classes.’

The sound of having thought a lot about making us suffer.

‘After much consideration, I concluded that the best way is to teach the class exactly as I am conducting my research.’

Isn’t that just telling the undergraduates to die? If they teach the class exactly as the professors do their research, how are we supposed to understand? Even if we do understand, it’s questionable whether it would be helpful.

I noticed that Professor Klaus had come to watch from the back, and at the very front, Professor Asterix’s graduate student was sitting openly.

Isn’t it just that they are bored talking about their research and have set up the undergraduates as a backdrop?

No. If you’re going to use us as a backdrop, do it properly. The backdrops don’t know anything. Why do they keep asking the undergraduates strange questions?

What’s the reason for persistently asking undergraduates things they are unlikely to know? They could just keep talking with their own graduate students.

‘What a stratum is… It’s easy to think of it as size, but the stratum here also implies a level of organized information.’

Hmm, is it a chant?

All sorts of crazy things are coming out.

What is a stratum? This is more philosophical than medical. Noticing that we didn’t understand, he turned around and started drawing something.

So Professor Asterix drew something with chalk. A person drawn with a stick. What is he trying to explain by drawing a human body?

“This is a person.”

He is definitely a crazy person.

A hollow laugh came out. What on earth is this?