Greece to roman road

Constantine brought a bundle of artemisia brought back from the hunting ground to the study room to think carefully about junior high school chemistry knowledge.

Artemisinin is an organic matter. Since it is an organic matter, it is easily soluble in organic solutions. This is the principle of extracting artemisinin.

The reason why Constantine was so eager to make artemisinin was not that he was eager to sell it to make money.

Instead, the 500 men of the Royal Guards were ready to go to Africa after Constantine's order was issued.

Constantine just wanted to minimize non-combat attrition. In southern Africa, where the environment is harsh, hot and rainy, and mosquitoes are rampant, the threat of disease to combatants may be far greater than other factors, so it ranks first. For example, as expected, Clash of the Cameron Expedition.

Artemisia annua, which can cure malaria, was one of the supplies Constantine prepared for his guards.

As for why Cinchona bark is not used and artemisinin is used at such great effort, the reason is complicated.

The primary reason, if nothing else, is the high price.

Cinchona bark is native to the Andes Mountains of the South American continent. Since its introduction, the price has remained high and countless people have flocked to it.

The emergence of every specific medicine is a carnival of capital.

To put it bluntly, there are countless people who have become rich with special medicines.

Cinchona bark is no exception.

Because the demand for cinchona trees is huge, wild tree species cannot withstand human exploitation, and their numbers are getting smaller and smaller.

The cinchona tree is a very delicate and picky tree species. If the environment is not suitable, even if it can be transplanted successfully, the content of the active ingredient (quinine) will be very low.

The British government made several attempts, but the cinchona trees they planted had no medicinal value at all, and they finally gave up.

The Dutch came to Java, where the climate conditions are similar to those of the Andes, and it took them 30 years to successfully grow cinchona trees that can be used for medicinal purposes.

The Dutch have spent so much energy and money, but they are not doing good deeds. In the end, they will earn back double the money from cinchona bark.

The success of this planting directly allowed the Dutch to control the world's quinine (extract from cinchona bark, used to treat malaria) market for nearly a hundred years.

Seeing that the Dutch were making huge profits from quinine, the envious British were unwilling to fail and tried again to plant cinchona trees in India.

The planting was successful, but the content of the active ingredient quinine was low and it was not recognized at all in the international market.

The British were forced to sell domestically in India.

As a result, 2 million people die from malaria in India every year, a very stable number.

The Dutch controlled the raw material market and used an iron fist to control its prices in order to obtain higher economic benefits.

Whenever the price of cinchona bark drops on the international market, they destroy some cinchona trees!

The U.S. Department of Justice once accused the Dutch of violating U.S. antitrust laws and confiscated five tons of Dutch cinchona bark stored in New York, but the Dutch didn't care at all and the U.S. government could do nothing about it.

The control of cinchona bark in the Netherlands is evident.

The second reason is the serious side effects.

Cinchona bark is an herbal medicine. When it is ineffective, it is not clear whether the dosage is insufficient or there is a problem with the raw materials.

If you take too much, the side effects can be serious.

These include tinnitus, deafness, diarrhea, headache, and visual impairment, and in severe cases, death.

Therefore, the trouble is more troublesome. Besides, after the preparation is successful, you can also grasp a way to make money and make a lot of profits.

How can we not take this opportunity to make a fortune like the Dutch do?

Constantine asked his servant to mash the rinsed Artemisia annua, then took four bottles of high-strength liquor-vodka, soaked the Artemisia annua chips, and after two days, filtered the residue with gauze to obtain bottled green Artemisia annua. A mixture of juice and alcohol.

Those who have received nine years of compulsory education are excellent, Constantine sighed.

Knowledge is money!

As for the efficacy of the medicine, this is a bit troublesome. Whether the artemisia annua prepared by this method is effective or not will only be known after testing.

The morning after the preparation was successful, Constantine came to the Athens Municipal Hospital with his homemade artemisinin.

At the Athens City Hospital, even the royal family’s patients and general illnesses came here to seek medical treatment.

It is the best hospital in Greece. It receives a large number of patients every day, and there must be malaria patients.

Athens City Hospital, Office of Director Philip.

"You said you invented a new drug to treat malaria?" After hearing Constantine's intention, Dean Philip, who was wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was full of doubts.

"Your Majesty the Duke, I would like to solemnly remind you that medicine is very serious and is not something to be done casually. It is about people's lives," Dean Philip said seriously.

"Dean Phillip, I understand the reason. Just help me conduct a drug trial. If it doesn't work, I apologize to you."

After struggling for a long time, Dean Philip firmly disagreed and conducted artemisinin drug experiments.

Constantine was also helpless. He didn't know whether to praise Philip for his hard work or to scold him for being stubborn and ignorant of flexibility.

There is no other choice but to use inducements.

"As long as you help me do this drug experiment, how about I help you get the corpse in the Athens prison?" Constantine, who didn't want to tangle with this old stubborn anymore, used his trump card.

I don’t believe you still didn’t agree to this condition after hearing it.

Sure enough, after hearing Constantine's conditions, Philip looked at Constantine in surprise, his gray beard shaking constantly.

The 19th century was a period of rapid progress in European medicine. Doctors were a special profession that was highly practical. The more examples they were exposed to, the stronger their professional abilities became.

Medical science developed rapidly in the 19th century, especially surgery.

The development of surgery has saved many lives, and the advancement of surgical knowledge relies largely on the development of anatomy.

Anatomy is a specialized subject that pays great attention to summarizing experience from practice.

The practice mentioned here is to do indescribable things to corpses.

However, due to the constraints of social ethics and morals, it is unacceptable for the public to dissect corpses openly, especially religious people.

It’s not just Easterners who are taboo about the dead, Westerners are also the same.

If medicine wants to progress, it must come into contact with a large number of corpses.

The medical community needs a large number of surgeons, but the necessary "materials" for training surgeons are far from enough.

A huge contradiction arises. The number of corpses obtained through legal channels is far from enough for medical professionals to operate.

So a black market emerged.

You read that right, there is not only a black market for arms, drugs and oil in this world, there is also a black market for buying and selling corpses.

Since it is a black market, it is not subject to government supervision. As long as the body can be obtained, any means will be used.

So what are the sources of corpses traded in the black market? There are three main types:

the unclaimed bodies of the poor in hospitals, workhouses and prisons;

tomb robbing;

Directly kill people and leave corpses behind.

These methods are as evil as they are evil.

But there is no way. If someone buys, someone will sell. If there is a need, there will be people who take risks. If there is no buying and selling, there will be no killing.

Many experienced doctors and medical school teachers have received the goods and can roughly identify where these corpses came from just by looking at them.

It's just that everyone turns a blind eye and pretends they don't know.

Constantine looked at Dr. Philip who was greatly touched. Hehe, this is called giving in to others, not afraid of your disobedience.