Chapter 28: The Germ Theory and the Solar Plexus Theory

  New book uploaded, seeking collection and recommendation

  The London County Court, Second Court

  "Your Honor, my client is a scientist who is currently recognized as an authority in the field of blood transfusion therapy worldwide and holds four invention patents for morphine hydrochloride, diethylmorphine hydrochloride, scopolamine hydrobromide, and vulcanized rubber. He also intends to publicly disclose another patent he owns for absorbable surgical sutures. These discoveries and inventions are enough to make my client one of the most outstanding scientists of our time. His disagreement with the Royal Medical Society is purely an academic dispute, mainly due to differences in opinions on the origin and spread of diseases, just like the opposition between Mr. Giordano Bruno and the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of 'heliocentrism' and 'geocentrism'..."

  The speaker was Andrew Jones, the lawyer. These days, the 'Jason Zhu defamation case' has been on trial in the London County Court. Today is the first hearing. This fledgling lawyer now wears a wig and black robes, speaking fluently in court, quite like a big-time lawyer.

  However, his opponents were not pushovers either. The Royal College of Physicians hired top-notch lawyers with silk gowns for this defamation lawsuit. They categorically denied any academic disputes and instead based their argument on Zhu's published article that British hospitals and doctors "brought disasters to pregnant women", believing that Zhu had insulted the dignity of all British doctors, thus constituting defamation.

  To be honest, this view is not wrong. Zhu Jishi's article was indeed trampling on the British medical elite, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was insulting. Of course, those British medical elites' articles were even more vicious and sharp-tongued than Zhu Jishi's, almost scolding him as a barbarian, and gave him nicknames like "Jason the Ripper" and "Bloodthirsty Beast Jason", which could almost be considered libelous. What's even more outrageous is that these British doctors also attacked the entire yellow race because of Zhu Jishi's skin color, with completely racist remarks. However, those members of the Royal Medical Society, and even the entire British aristocratic elite, did not think that those discriminatory and slanderous remarks against the yellow race were wrong.

  After all, a group of British officers from the opium class, led by more than 10,000 "double-gun soldiers" (opium was a military supply provided by the British army to its officers and men), beat the Qing Empire, which had an army of over 100 million people, to the ground, took Hong Kong Island, demanded 7 million pounds in compensation, and obtained a series of benefits including treaty tariffs, extraterritorial jurisdiction, five ports for trade, and most-favored-nation treatment. The news of the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing has been transmitted back to Britain, and as a result, the middle and upper classes of the British Isles have celebrated for a while. Various speeches on dividing and swallowing up China have also appeared in mainstream British newspapers, basically regarding the Qing Empire as the second India.

  As for Zhu Jishi, after hearing the news of the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, he let out a soft sigh in his heart. This piece of history was destined to happen. In fact, when Zhu Jishi traveled through time and space to this era, the Opium War had already ended, and the Treaty of Nanjing had also been signed; it's just that Britain hadn't received the news yet. Even if he took the fastest sailboat back to China, he wouldn't be able to change history, so it was better for him to stay in Britain and do business as usual.

  But he also knew that the First Opium War was just the beginning, and the trade in morphine, codeine, opium, and rubber would be even more profitable. If they could earn back the 7 million pounds that the Qing dynasty lost in the First Opium War, it would already be a remarkable feat. But if they wanted to earn back the tens of billions of taels of silver that the Qing dynasty had paid to foreign powers up until the Xinhai Revolution, it was simply an unrealistic dream. And if you also consider the loss of territory and the damage to Chinese national industries due to the agreed-upon tariffs, who knows how many tons of morphine would be needed to make up for it? The problem is, where would Western countries find so many opium addicts?

  At this thought, Zhu Jishi could only let out a long sigh.

  "Jason, Jason..." A soft feminine voice pulled Zhu Zei out of his reverie. It was Mrs. Dulan sitting beside him who spoke. "Jason, it's your turn to testify."

  It seems that Attorney General Jones' statement failed to convince the judge, and the court adopted the view of the Royal Medical Society of Great Britain, not considering Zhu's dispute with the Royal Medical Society as an academic dispute, which is exactly what Zhu wanted.

  As he sat in the witness stand, with his right hand on the Bible, Zhu Jishi's eyes scanned the courtroom. Isabelle and Bronstein were not present in the spectator seats, but that chubby guy who was injured by Will Heming in a duel appeared in the courtroom wearing a crisp red military uniform. He had visited Zhu Jishi a few days before the trial, hinting that he could leave London to avoid facing criminal charges after losing the civil defamation lawsuit, but was rejected by Zhu Jishi.

  Engels and Willem Heim also sat in the courtroom, taking notes with their notebooks and pens. They were probably preparing to publish everything that happened in court in the Nordstern newspaper.

  "Mr. Zhu," a middle-aged imperial lawyer with a wig and silk robe walked over, looking at Zhu Jishi with disdain, "Did you or did you not submit articles to the illegally published newspapers 'The Northern Star', 'The Observer' and 'The London Express' on November 26th, 28th, 30th and December 1st of 1842, claiming that due to the mistakes of British medical professionals, a large number of patients and pregnant women died?"

  "Many patients indeed suffered disasters due to their own mistakes..."

  "Answer yes or no!" The royal lawyer raised his voice, interrupting Zhu Jishi. According to the plan he and several other royal lawyers had discussed, winning this lawsuit was actually very simple. All they needed was for Zhu Jishi to admit that he had published "defamatory remarks" in an illegal newspaper, and then have the Royal Medical Society come forward to prove that these remarks were nonsense. There was no need to discuss academic issues in court, lest the judge think that this trial was deciding on the right or wrong of academic views.

  "Germ is existing, can be clearly observed through microscope, of course need to use some special methods for careful observation! For example using staining method and culture method - these two ways of studying germs are invented by me, and have been submitted to The Lancet magazine, but were not published."

  "Mr. Zhu, please do not mention anything irrelevant to this case. You only need to answer yes or no." The judge on the bench slightly furrowed his brow, and the London County Court also debated whether to accept the "Jason Zhu defamation case". The focus of the debate was whether the key to this case was "defamation" or "academic disagreement", or how to distinguish between "defamation" and "academic disagreement". The former can be tried in court, while the latter is not something that judges can rule on.

  "Your Honor, this is not an irrelevant matter, but a crucial piece of evidence." Jones stood up and spoke, his eyes fixed intently on the judge, emphasizing: "Your Lordship, I would like to remind you that due to Mr. Zhu's latest scientific discovery, this trial will inevitably be remembered for generations to come. If you make the wrong decision, there can only be one outcome - bringing shame to the British Empire's legal system!"

  At this time, Zhu Jishi suddenly took over the topic, with a smile of victory, looking at Lord He and Lord Li, laughing: "Two lords, I heard that you are the authorities in the British and even European medical circles. Your testimony can play a decisive role in today's trial, but you do not represent the truth. Now the entire European medical and scientific communities have known about this absurd trial. If you win the trial today, but soon after, my germ theory is confirmed by other European scientists, I find it hard to imagine how all European scientists will look at you and the British Royal Medical Society?"

  Lord Horder and Sir Reid looked at each other, they had indeed given the Lancet magazine a signal not to publish Dr. Chui's papers again. So they didn't know what would later be called "Chui's staining method" and "Chui's solid medium", two important methods for observing bacteria, let alone judge whether Dr. Chui was telling the truth or not.

  Just as the two British royal medical associations' leaders were at a loss, the iron-faced judge on the bench said in a low voice again: "The defendant, please do not say anything irrelevant to this trial!"