Chereads / The Roman Road in Greece / Chapter 17 - Chapter 17 Drugs of Great Value

Chapter 17 - Chapter 17 Drugs of Great Value

Constantine took a bundle of Artemisia annua he brought back from the hunting ground, and came to the study to think carefully about his junior high school chemistry knowledge.

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

The reason Constantine is so eager to make artemisinin is not because he is eager to sell artemisinin to make money.

It was the 500 members of the Royal Guards who were all 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 mosquito-ridden in southern Africa, the threat of disease to combatants may be far greater than other factors, so it ranks first. Clash of the Cameron expedition.

Artemisia annua, which can treat malaria, is one of the supplies that Constantine prepared for his guard.

As for why not use cinchona bark and use artemisinin with so much effort, the reason is complicated.

The first reason, nothing else, is the high price.

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

The emergence of every special medicine is a capital carnival.

To put it bluntly, there are countless people who use special medicines to make rich people.

Cinchona bark is no exception.

Because of the huge demand for cinchona trees, wild tree species cannot withstand human exploitation, and the number is decreasing.

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

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

The Dutch came to Java where the climate conditions were similar to those in the Andes, and it took 30 years to successfully plant cinchona trees for medicinal purposes.

The Dutch have paid so much energy and money, but they are not doing good deeds, and in the end they have to double their income from the cinchona bark.

The success of this planting has directly allowed the Dutch to control the world quinine (cinchona bark extract, treatment of malaria) market for nearly a hundred years.

Seeing that the Dutch made a huge profit with quinine, the jealous British, unwilling to fail, tried again to plant cinchona trees in India.

The planting was successful, but the effective ingredient content of quinine was low, which was not recognized in the international market.

The British, who were forced to have no choice but to sell them in India.

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

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 in the international market drops, they will destroy some cinchona trees!

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

The Dutch control of cinchona bark is evident.

The second reason is serious side effects.

Cinchona bark, this herb, when it is ineffective, it is not clear whether the dosage is insufficient or the ingredients are defective.

If you take too much, the side effects are very serious.

Including tinnitus, deafness, diarrhea, headache, and visual impairment, and in severe cases, it may lead to death.

Therefore, the trouble is more troublesome. Besides, after the system is successful, you can still grasp a way of making money and make a lot of money.

How can you not take the opportunity to make a fortune like the Dutch?

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

A person with nine years of compulsory education is excellent, Constantine exclaimed.

Knowledge is money!

As for the efficacy of the medicine, this is a bit troublesome. Whether the Artemisia annua produced by this method is effective or not, it needs to be tested before it becomes clear.

The preparation was successful The next morning, Constantine took his homemade artemisinin and went to the Athens City Hospital.

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 accepts a large number of patients every day. There must be people with malaria.

Athens City Hospital, Office of the President Philip.

"You said you invented a new medicine to treat malaria?" After hearing Constantine's intentions, Dean Philip wearing gold glasses was full of suspicion.

"Your Excellency, I want to remind you solemnly that medicine is very serious, it is not a willful thing, it is about human life," Dean Philip said solemnly.

"Dean Philip, I understand the truth. You can help and conduct a drug trial. If it doesn't work, I apologize to you."

After entangled for a long time, Dean Philip resolutely disagreed to conduct a drug experiment with artemisinin.

Constantine was also helpless, not knowing whether to praise Philip for his due diligence, or to scold him for being stubborn and not knowing how to work.

There is no other way but to resort to profit temptation.

"As long as you help me with this drug experiment, I will help you get the corpse of the Athens prison, how about it?", I don't want to be entangled with this old stubborn Constantine anymore, resorted to his own assassin.

I don't believe this condition. After listening to it, you still refuse to agree.

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

The 19th century was a period of rapid advancement in European medicine. Doctors were a special profession with strong practicality. The more examples they contacted, the stronger their professional skills.

The medical level in the 19th century developed very rapidly, especially in surgery.

The development of surgery has saved many lives, and the advancement of surgical knowledge depends to a large extent on the development of anatomy.

Anatomy is a specialized subject that places great emphasis on summing up experience from practice.

The practice mentioned here is to do indescribable things to the corpse.

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

It's not just the Easterners who are taboo against the dead, but also Westerners.

For medical science to advance, it must be exposed to a large number of corpses.

The medical profession needs a large number of surgeons, but the "materials" necessary to train surgeons are far from enough.

A huge contradiction has emerged. The number of corpses obtained legally is far from enough for medical professionals.

So there was a black market.

You are not mistaken. In this world, there is not only a black market for arms, drugs and oil, but also a black market for buying and selling corpses.

Since it is a black market, it is not supervised by the government. As long as the body can be obtained, all means are at no cost.

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

1. The corpses of unclaimed poor people in hospitals, poverty-stricken homes and prisons;

2. Tomb digging;

3. Directly kill the corpse.

These methods are as wicked as they are.

But there is no way. If someone buys it, someone sells it. If there is demand, there will be people who take risks. If there is no sale, there will be no killing.

Many experienced doctors and medical school teachers get the goods, just by looking at it, you can identify from the surface of the body where the corpses came from.

It's just that everyone opens one eye and closes the other, as if they don't know.

Constantine looked at the touched Doctor Philip, hehe, this is called obedience, not afraid you will not follow.