Chapter 10: The Murder Hospitals of the 19th Century
New book uploaded, seeking collection, seeking recommendation
"Is this really a hospital?"
October 15, 1842, in the afternoon, which was the thirtieth day since Zhusi came to this era. With Isabel's help, Zhusi finally got a chance for an interview. However, accompanying him to the "Oumen Hospital" located in the industrial area of London, also known as the "Charity Hospital", was not Isabel herself but her sister, Mrs. Dulan (it would be impossible for the noble and beautiful countess to go to such a dirty and smelly place in the industrial area of London where various pathogenic bacteria were floating in the air).
"Don't worry, the interview is just a formality, Isabelle has already spoken with Mr. Owen, the boss here."
Although she still looked down on Zhu Jishi, this "Tartar", Madame Dulan's face was still adorned with an enchanting smile as she told him in great detail about the situation at Omen Hospital. This Omen Hospital was a so-called "charity hospital" and its operating funds came from several textile factory owners, one of whom was Peter Omen, who had invested the most, hence the name "Omen Hospital".
In addition, Mrs. Dulan told Zhusi that these "charity hospitals" run by capitalists or churches do not charge medical fees, and their operating funds mostly come from donations, sometimes supplemented by selling medicine. The objects of service are not middle-class people like her and Isabel, but the lowest-level ordinary people, who in fact have no ability to pay medical expenses.
Those who can afford medical expenses, the middle and upper classes, generally ask for high-skilled doctors to provide door-to-door services, and sometimes also receive treatment in well-serviced private clinics. They basically do not go to charity hospitals that only provide free medical services for the poor. Because the conditions there are really terrible...
Although he had some mental preparation, when Zhu Jishi saw the dilapidated house standing between two factories that constantly emitted foul odors (apparently dyeing and printing mills), it was still difficult for him to associate it with a hospital.
The house's main color was gray, looking just like the sky in London's industrial area, as if it hadn't been washed clean...it wasn't until later that Zhu Jishi learned that when this hospital was first built, its outer walls were actually white...more than half of the glass in the windows had shattered and was temporarily covered with cardboard. Mrs. Dulan told him that those glass windows were smashed during the September riots in London's industrial area. Such disturbances by laborers were very common in 19th century Europe.
"Come with me." Mrs. Dulan smiled sweetly at Zhu Jishi, then covered her nose with a handkerchief. To be honest, the smell here was really too hard to bear. If you sniffed carefully, you could distinguish the musty smell, the stench of rot, the foul odor of feces, and the toxic industrial waste gas emitted by the surrounding factories! Zhu Jishi felt dizzy and his eyes blurred. With his medical knowledge, this hospital was simply a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria!
Zhu Jishi almost saw what tuberculosis bacteria, cholera bacteria, plague bacteria, spotted typhus, smallpox, yellow fever and other deadly pathogens were growing happily here.
"Tartar? Good heavens, a real Tartar!" The hospital's director, Frank Hahn, a rough-mannered, thick-skinned blockhead, eyed Dr. Chu for quite some time with the same gaze one would use to observe an orangutan in a zoo, before suddenly bursting out laughing: "Great! Just great! Finally, we've got a doctor who can stick around this godforsaken place for a while. Hey, Tartar, I hear you're also a surgeon?"
"Yes, I am a surgeon." Zhu Jishi acknowledged with a stiff upper lip.
"That's great, will you be delivering? After getting a positive response, Hahn took the medical license from Zhū Jì Shì and looked at it, "Wow, still got a license! This is too good, our Oumen Hospital now has two licensed doctors. By the way, Tartar, what's your name?"
"Jason Zhu." Dr. Zhu had his medical license revoked.
"Jason... Zhu? Is Zhu his surname?"
"Just call me Jason."
"Alright Jason, glad you could make it here. I'm Frank Hahn, the Dean around these parts, just call me Frank." As he spoke, a greasy large hand wiped itself on a grey overcoat stained with blood and oil - probably white originally - before tightly grasping Zhu Zhi's right hand.
……
About half an hour after their first meeting, Frank Hawn had taken Dr. Juji to make the rounds of this hospital with a terrible smell, introducing all the doctors and nurses to Dr. Juji - actually there were not many people. The sponsor, Mr. Omen, should be called "Mr. Stingy", and the hospital's monthly expenses were less than 200 pounds. Frank Hawn was the "contractor" of the hospital, including Dr. Juji, he employed a total of five doctors, one midwife and one pharmacist, but only Dr. Juji had a proper medical license, the other four doctors were unlicensed, and the only pharmacist was Frank Hawn's wife Mary Hawn, who was also unlicensed, as for the female midwife named Janet Lee, she was also unlicensed - there was no certification of midwives in this era. However, their salaries were not lower than Dr. Juji, a licensed doctor, all with a weekly salary of 3 pounds.
In addition, there were six female nurses, all of whom came from high-class middle-class or bourgeois families and were volunteers rather than employees. They had come to the hospital out of kindness or faith in God. However, these female nurses had no experience whatsoever in nursing, not even knowing how to disinfect - Dr. Zhu saw one of them, a petite and lovely young woman, wiping down a pair of obstetric forceps and several pairs of scissors with a dirty rag stained with blood.
As for the medicine provided in this charity hospital, of course, it is not free. This is the main source of income for Dean Frank Hahn. However, the quantity and variety of medicines are still very limited, and most of them are ineffective, such as a syrup that claims to treat tuberculosis! The "Universal Pharmacopoeia" purchased by Zhu Jishi introduces this syrup as a pain reliever for pulmonary tuberculosis, but in fact, it is just added with some opium paste - opium was almost a panacea in Europe at that time, and large blocks of opium paste could be seen in all pharmacies and hospitals. Moreover, more than half of the Western medicines may contain opium components! In addition, the production of Western medicine had not been truly industrialized at that time, and many pharmacies and hospitals were producing and selling Western medicines on their own, without any supervision, so everyone was willing to add opium, this "effective" panacea, to their self-formulated medicines.
Apart from the "special effect medicine" with opium, there are many medicines made from alkaloids extracted from plants, such as tubocurarine, quinine (for malaria), cinchonine (also extracted from Cinchona plants), atropine, etc. Most of them are toxic and can be fatal if used improperly. However, there are also good things like berberine, which is the famous berberine! But it's not as effective as berberine hydrochloride, so there's no injectable solution available.
This hospital has many other ridiculous medicines, such as ketchup! It's said to be able to cure over 30 diseases. I have no idea what those uneducated time-travelers would think if they saw a doctor feeding them ketchup to cure their illness. And then there's the water with just a hint of sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid that becomes a magical medicine, able to cure up to 31 diseases. Also, petroleum is somehow a "miracle cure"... using petroleum to treat illnesses, do these European doctors think patients are Transformers?
"Jason, what do you think of this hospital?" Frank Hahn asked Zhu Jishi with a smile, puffing on his pipe after taking him on a tour of the hospital.
"It's a bit dirty." Zhu Jishi gave a rather unenthusiastic opinion.
