I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Episode 5. Quitting as the Princess’s Physician (5)

Episode 5. Quitting as the Princess’s Physician (5)

In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, most doctors were also scientists. Some were also philosophers, theologians, or alchemists.

Even Pasteur, who developed the vaccine and refuted the theory of spontaneous generation, was originally a chemist.

This trend has continued to some extent into modern times. A competent doctor is expected to write papers and participate in research regularly.

The reason I’m going on about this is this:

I now have to find a way to distill the alcohol Istina bought to the level of disinfectant alcohol. Without setting the lab on fire.

It doesn’t look easy.

“Vodka. So it wasn’t a lie when you said you didn’t buy it to drink?”

“Do I look like a drunkard?”

The graduate student shook their head.

“The professor can drink a little. I didn’t think it was my place to interfere.”

That’s true.

Istina brought two bottles of vodka. More than I expected. Roughly calculated, we could make one bottle of ethanol and one and a half bottles of disinfectant.

Istina frowned.

“So… what are you going to do with this?”

“I’m going to boil the vodka.”

“Boil it to drink?”

“No, for the experiment.”

Why do they like drinking so much?

“Ethanol boils before water. If we keep the temperature of the first container between 75 and 95 degrees, we can get pure ethanol vapor. If we pass this pure ethanol vapor through a cold pipe, we’ll get pure ethanol.”

It doesn’t have to be vodka, but if we boiled wine, the disinfectant would smell like grapes. Besides, the price doesn’t match.

The distillation itself can be done with the things in this lab. We have flasks and burners and such. I’m not sure if the cost will match, though.

“I think I understand.”

“Yeah.”

“What is the target?”

“A solution with more than 75% ethanol content.”

Istina tied her hair and scribbled something in a small notebook.

“What is ethanol- never mind. I’ll start by organizing what we need.”

Good. Very smart.

The alcohol content of vodka is around 40-50%. This is effective, but typical alcohol disinfectants have an alcohol content of around 75%. We’ll see the results after distillation.

“So, what we need now is fire, a thermometer flask, a cooling tube, and a container for the ethanol, right?”

I nodded.

“Most of these should be in the professor’s lab. I’ll check the alchemy lab to see if there’s anything with a larger capacity.”

This is the alchemy lab.

There was a separate distillation machine in the alchemy lab. I wasted time looking for a flask earlier.

“What is the ultimate goal? If we distill this, are there diseases that can be cured by drinking pure alcohol?”

Diseases cured by drinking alcohol… There are none. But there are plenty of diseases caused by drinking it.

“No. Ethanol will be used to disinfect hands or equipment. It can also be used to disinfect contaminated wounds.”

“Ah.”

The distiller is borrowed.

The distiller worked properly.

“In relation to World War II, there’s a saying that’s passed down, though it’s hard to tell if it’s a joke or the truth. They say the Soviet army used vodka for everything: boosting morale, disinfecting wounds, as a substitute for gasoline, cleaning, antifreeze, and even as a painkiller.”

“Uh, I don’t know what that is.”

Istina scratched her head.

“Even if it sounds like a joke, there’s some truth to it. Ethanol with a purity of over 75% can catch fire, disinfect wounds, and get you drunk if you drink it.”

When a professor speaks, you listen. Whether you can understand the content is a secondary issue.

“I don’t quite understand what you mean, but you’re saying ethanol is very useful, right?”

It’s fortunate that Istina understood. Even if she doesn’t understand, her attitude of listening intently is good. I nodded.

Istina picked up the bottle of distilled ethanol.

Come to think of it… Is it really a bottle of ethanol? It might just be a solution with a concentration similar to vodka.

“But professor, this looks just like water. It smells strongly of alcohol, though.”

There’s a way to find out.

Of course, we don’t have the equipment to measure the concentration of ethanol in this solution, but we don’t need extremely precise observation equipment.

To indirectly evaluate how much ethanol is in the solution, we can simply measure the volume and weight of the result. Ethanol liquid has a lower density compared to water.

To put it as simply as possible, the density of ethanol is about 0.8, and the density of water is about 1. The closer the density of our solution is to 0.8, the better we made it.

“What’s the density of the result?”

“Understood. I’ll measure the weight now.”

Density is the weight divided by the volume.

Istina picked up the scale and pondered.

The volume is marked on the flask. The weight can be measured with the scale. We just need to subtract the weight of the flask, but how much does the flask weigh?

After a moment, Istina spoke.

“Uh, it seems the density of the result is just under 1 kilogram per liter. I’m a bit fuzzy on the volume calculation though.”

“Look.”

I checked the calculation formula again.

The calculated density of the result is 0.85.

It’s impossible to calculate the purity of ethanol based on density here, but it’s clear that it’s a high concentration ethanol solution.

The density of water is about 1, and the density of pure ethanol is roughly around 0.8. So, it should be more than 75% ethanol, which is suitable for disinfection. If we have something that can be used as a substitute for glycerol, we could even make hand sanitizer.

Let’s worry about that later. I can’t remember what glycerol is or how to make it. It’s not an essential element anyway.

“Well, this is good enough.”

Istina nodded.

We’ve solved the problem of making disinfectant.

“Istina. But isn’t vodka itself a drink made by diluting high-purity alcohol to a drinkable concentration?”

“Uh, I don’t think so?”

Have we been wasting our time? Istina shook her head, but I’ve never made vodka before.

“Yeah… Anyway. The important thing is not making alcohol, but that the alcohol we made can be used for disinfection.”

“That seems right!”

Istina was clearly trying to move on. Next time, we’ll just buy distilled vodka concentrate. One less hassle.

Now we need a microscope. If we can’t definitively prove the existence of bacteria, we can’t explain why disinfectant is necessary.

Or an agar culture medium. We need at least one of the two to properly prove the existence of bacteria. Ideally, we need both.

There’s still a long time before class starts… Let’s think about it a bit more.

“Istina, do you know what agar is?”

“What is that? Is it seaweed?”

Come to think of it, I don’t think we necessarily need agar medium. We could use any carbohydrate powder, like making acorn jelly.

Cornmeal, for example.

“Istina. Later, go get some soybean flour and cornmeal. We need it to make a bacterial culture medium.”

“Will bacteria grow on that?”

Well, won’t they? When I was at the university hospital, I used culture media and culture bottles many times, but they usually come pre-made.

There aren’t many opportunities to make culture media from scratch. The only times I made culture media myself were in high school and during my undergraduate studies.

Soybeans have a high protein content, so they seem suitable as a nutrient source for the culture medium. But it’s something we won’t know until we try.

Unfortunately, no matter how we make the culture medium, it’s far from being clinically useful. The types of bacteria that can be cultured depend on the characteristics of the culture medium, and I can’t think of any way to distinguish them.

That’s something we need to think about too.

“Oh, right. Get some magnifying glasses tomorrow. We need at least three.”

Istina tilted her head.

“Understood. Where should I get them?”

You know, not me.

How to put an elephant in a refrigerator?

Ask a graduate student.

The important thing is not whether the graduate student can put the elephant in the refrigerator. If a graduate student can’t do it, then it’s impossible for a human to do it, because if a graduate student can’t do it, it’s impossible.

A graduate student is not a slave.

A slave must be fed by their master, given a place to sleep, and even arranged for marriage. A graduate student, on the other hand, doesn’t eat, doesn’t sleep, and marriage is out of the question…

Anyway.

Bring soybean flour, cornmeal, and a magnifying glass.

These three tasks have been determined to be within human capability. Since there are already Petri dishes and a kettle in the lab, making culture media from now on should be no big deal.

Making a microscope with a magnifying glass might be a bit difficult. Let’s start with the easier tasks first.

“Professor, when will you see patients?”

What is she talking about? I haven’t had any patients come to me yet. My ward hasn’t even opened.

“Is it strange to call it a tour? Anyway, before we start working in earnest, can’t we visit the hospital? You need to prepare for the ward work too.”

Come to think of it, that might be better.

“You make the culture media later. I’ll try to make the microscope.”

“Okay, understood.”

Istina nodded vigorously. Let’s get ready to go to the hospital.