The Shadow of Great Britain

535: Chapter 278 Horrifying News_2 535: Chapter 278 Horrifying News_2 And those idlers who were loitering nearby, once they saw the crowd on this side, they all gathered around too.

Kids threw stones at us, women spat in our direction, and dockworkers who had just finished their shift formed a protective barrier in front of them, preventing us from getting close enough to make arrests.

Seeing that things were going south, we quickly sent a sharp lad back to the camp to call for reinforcements.

In the end, it took a whole platoon from the 82nd Regiment to get that couple to the hospital.”

“And that wasn’t the end of it!

After we got those people to the hospital, we found that there were already about a thousand people gathered outside.

As you know, with our old British tradition, when so many people collect, nothing good is bound to happen.

We stood guard at the hospital until evening, and sure enough, as soon as the sun went down, they started…”

The naval officer sneered, “Oh?

Did your army have another Peterloo Massacre on your hands?”

The army officer bristled at the mention of Peterloo, and roared, “Bullshit!

The Peterloo Massacre was perpetrated by the cavalry, what does it have to do with the infantry?

If you want to consult about that experience, I suggest you go to Hyde Park and ask the Guard Cavalry Regiment.

They’ve always been first in line for such bravery.”

The naval officer asked, “So what did you do at the time?”

The army officer, pulling out a pipe, leaned against the marble pillar at the front of the courthouse and smoked as he said, “As soon as it got dark, they started with their centuries-old craft.

The men, under the cover of darkness, started scaling the walls with their small work hammers, storming the hospital, trying to free that couple.

And opportunists took advantage of that to light fires near the hospital, planning to send us all to meet God.

Had we not anticipated their move and deployed enough troops in advance, I’d probably be boasting to you from a grave by now.”

“Did you catch any of those who stormed the hospital?”

“Caught a few dozen, it’s up to the Home Office to see what they’ll do about it.

But I’ve heard that the Home Office is already stretched thin with the Swin upheaval.

They’ve already arrested hundreds of rioting peasants in the south, in Kent and York, and the situation hasn’t shown any indication of slowing down.

For now, the Home Office probably doesn’t have the time to bother with Liverpool’s few dozen.”

Arthur moved past the officers and continued forward; the doctors in the hall were clearly more civilized in their language, but the flush in their cheeks indicated that the intensity of their debate was no less fierce than that of the land and sea military men.

“I believe that, under the current circumstances, Britain’s medical community does not have a systematic understanding of cholera.

In such cases, the traditional and conservative method of bloodletting is the most effective.

Based on my treatment experience in Manchester, I speculate that cholera is a type of bloodborne toxin, causing neurological disorder that leads to significant venous congestion, hindering the healthy arterial blood flow to the lungs, and clearly, drawing venous blood can reverse the course of the disease.”

“Mr.

Gault, pardon me for disagreeing with you.

My treatment experiences in Houghton tell me that bloodletting is not universally effective, and your success in Manchester, you might have just been lucky.

Setting aside the exact transmission route of cholera, firstly, I do not believe it is a bloodborne toxin, but rather a gastrointestinal disease,” another contested.

“I also agree with Mr.

Aire’s view.

All patients present with copious vomiting and diarrhea, indicating the toxin accumulates in their digestive tract.

The best approach to deal with such diseases is emesis.

In this scenario, mercurous chloride, croton oil, mustard, and camphor, as emetics, are undoubtedly the best choices for treating cholera.

But we must pay attention to dosage, especially with mercurous chloride, I reckon it should not exceed 20 granules per dose.

If patients resist taking the medication, we can also offer some opium and wine to help them swallow it down,” a third chimed in.

Arthur, upon hearing this, could feel goosebumps all over his body.

Both large-scale bloodletting and the ingestion of mercurous chloride and camphor seemed beyond his understanding.

If the Central Health Committee, hastily established, truly propagated these treatments as guidelines, it was hard not to wonder whether they would help patients recover or hasten their demise.

He was itching to join in the debate with the doctors before him, but after much contemplation, he ultimately chose not to act rashly.

It wasn’t just because he was minor in the field of medicine, but also because the name Arthur Hastings wasn’t well-received in the medical community.

A year ago, his prolific arrests of doctors involved in body snatching in London had spread throughout Britain.

Although many doctors supported his actions, believing that those who conducted dissections with illegally obtained corpses tarnished the reputation of the entire medical community,

From another perspective, this also caused the reputation of Scotland Yard to plummet among doctors seeking innovative research.

To put it more aptly, most of those who supported Arthur were old-school British practitioners, and medieval practices such as bloodletting were their specialty.

Whereas innovative doctors, affected by centuries of body snatching, were often considered the fringe of the medical community, which explains why Arthur heard mostly old-fashioned treatments being argued here.