Chapter 905 "Aspirin"
Of course, although the construction of the Cabinda Railway is difficult, it is not impossible for East Africa. Because a huge amount of experience has been accumulated in the construction of the Hessian Railway, the feasibility of this tropical rainforest railway across the Congo River is quite high.
The only drawback is that there is no direct railway from Cabinda to Luanda. The starting point of the Western Coastal Railway is the town of Soyo on the opposite side of Cabinda, which is on the south bank of the Congo River estuary, cutting off the direct connection between Cabinda and the southern Angolan cities.
However, at present, Cabinda does not have the confidence of Luanda, and it would be a blessing if it could get the Kinshasa Railway to be extended to Cabinda.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the idea of the Cabinda Municipal Government, but once the oil resources in Cabinda are developed, Cabinda will be fully capable of becoming one of the most powerful cities in East Africa.
After all, the oil resources in Cabinda alone are equivalent to about half of the oil resources in the entire Far East Empire in the previous life. In addition to its location as a seaport city and its policy inclinations, its importance to East Africa is far greater than that of Luanda.
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With the construction of the "three departments", resources from across East Africa will be transferred to these three regions, including new schools and hospitals.
However, the current education and medical conditions in these areas are naturally not comparable to those in the central and eastern regions. Take Cabinda as an example.
There is only one hospital in the entire city of Cabinda, and there are only about seventy people in the entire hospital, which means there is only one doctor for every more than a thousand people.
However, this is much better than the overall level in the west. There is only one doctor for every three thousand people in the whole west. Cabinda is a city, so the situation is relatively good. Moreover, Cabinda is a city with a high level. If it is other backward towns, the situation will be even lower.
"Mr. Luo Fu, two more patients were sent here today."
Today, two patients were sent to the city hospital, both of them were black. From this point of view, the black laborers in East Africa seemed to be treated well. After all, medical care, as a scarce resource, could be used on black people. In the general environment of the 19th century, it was obviously a bit of a "waste".
Of course, it is impossible for East Africa to be so kind as to treat them for free. In addition to being an important labor resource in East Africa, these indigenous patients are also important medical materials.
After all, the medical level and quality of doctors in the 19th century were extremely backward, and if we want to improve the quality of doctors, we must conduct more clinical trials.
Obviously, it is not suitable to use citizens of the country as experimental subjects, but it is different for black people. They can boldly try prescriptions and treatments with confidence. This is also one of the important reasons for the rapid development of East African medicine.
Luo Fu looked at his patient as usual, but he didn't rush to take action. Instead, he asked his student to take a look at the situation first: "Browns, take a look at what's going on, and then tell me."
A young man who looked a little immature said, "Yes, teacher," after putting on his gloves.
He would come before two black men and begin to observe and ask about symptoms. Under the rule of the former Portuguese, these black men only knew simple Portuguese or some imperative German and were obviously unable to answer his professional questions.
So Browns could only confirm the disease by analyzing the patient's part. He first measured the body temperature, then pried open the black man's mouth, observed the condition of the tongue coating, and then examined the lesion.
After observing for a few minutes, Browns said uncertainly: "Teacher, this symptom looks like some kind of inflammation. The patient's body has a high temperature, and the wound has red and swollen scars with clear boundaries... It seems that the situation has been delayed for a long time, but I don't know the specific problem."
Luo Fu nodded and said, "These are all basic symptoms. It should be some kind of skin disease. I tend to think it is erysipelas. After all, some of our previous patients had similar cases."
"Compendium of Materia Medica records: 'Willow leaves... for erysipelas in children. Use one pound of willow leaves, add one bucket of water, boil and extract three liters of juice, and wash the affected area. It is advisable to wash seven or eight times a day...' So willow leaves must contain some chemical components, which means that they had very good therapeutic effects in the ancient Far Eastern Empire, otherwise it would not be recorded in detail. Of course, it depends on whether it is suitable for the symptoms, but we don't have willow leaves here, so you can prescribe some anti-inflammatory drugs first."
Browns is naturally very familiar with the book "Compendium of Materia Medica", which is one of the must-learn books and is included in the East African Pharmacopoeia compiled by the East African Chinese Medicine Association.
The East African Pharmacopoeia is a pharmaceutical encyclopedia compiled by the East African Chinese Medicine Association based on medical masterpieces and prescriptions from around the world, as well as East African native herbal varieties.
"Erysipelas is a skin disease. Under a microscope, we can conclude that this disease is caused by a virus or bacteria. Willow leaves contain certain ingredients that have an inhibitory effect on this virus or bacteria, so our focus is to find this virus or bacteria, or even the fungus component."
“Medical science in all countries of the world has its merits, but only traditional Chinese medicine has achieved great success. Traditional Chinese medicine has rich data support and records of various diseases.”
"Let's not talk about other things. There are thirteen versions of the Compendium of Materia Medica in East Africa alone. There is even a single copy in the royal collection, and two versions in Japan. This means that the content of the Compendium of Materia Medica has changed a lot since it was handed down to this day. After all, medicine must be rigorous, and the slightest change may cause serious medical accidents."
"Of course, there is some truth to this subtle adjustment. After all, every doctor has his own experience and knowledge, so this subtle change is likely to be a correction and improvement, which we cannot ignore." Luo Fu talked to his students.
"Of course, I said this because I hope you can learn from ancient books in the future. This knowledge is precious wealth after all. For example, the willow leaf I mentioned earlier has an inhibitory effect on erysipelas. It is said that the National Medical Laboratory is currently extracting its ingredients. In fact, there were similar treatment cases in ancient Egypt. Therefore, learning from the strengths of various schools is one of the important processes for the continuous progress of our medicine."
The national medical laboratory that Luo Fu mentioned has actually achieved quite a few successes. After all, there are countless medical cases and treatment plans recorded in traditional Chinese medicine, and East Africa only extracts the chemical components of the drugs on this basis.
This is equivalent to pointing out the research direction, instead of running around like a headless fly and making breakthroughs by accident.
There has also been considerable progress in the extraction of ingredients from willow leaves. Perhaps you don’t know this, but it is salicylic acid in willow that has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. However, the side effects are too great at present, so it has not yet been promoted and is being improved in the laboratory.
In the past, the most famous drug containing salicylic acid was "aspirin", which was developed by Hoffmann in Germany, and Hoffmann's research was carried out almost at the same time as in East Africa.
Of course, the East African Chinese Medicine Association certainly does not know the existence of Hoffman. His research projects are entirely based on the directions found in the ancient medical books of the Far Eastern Empire. Of course, if one wants to extract the active ingredients of the medicines in the ancient books, a chemical foundation is indispensable.
Therefore, East African medicine is actively recruiting talents from all walks of life, or integrating learning from other aspects of knowledge, so as to better promote the development of East African medicine.
In this way, it would be easier for East African traditional Chinese medicine to achieve results. The knowledge in the medical books of the Far East Empire alone would be enough for them to study for a lifetime.
Just like the extraction of "salicylic acid", first the Chinese medicine classics pointed out the direction, and then the doctors in East Africa found a way to extract this ingredient through modern means. If it is successfully improved in the future, it may become an effective medicine like "aspirin".
(End of this chapter)
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