"Loma" can be regarded as a long-established and well-known pharmacy in Vienna. Its establishment dates back to the middle of the last century. It has been passed to the owner Quedlin Loma for the third generation. It is truly a century-old brand.
Pharmacies in the 17th or 18th century had no customer aisles; people simply handed in a doctor's prescription through a sales window to get their medicine. Because customers could not enter the house, Old Loma was willing to spend a lot of money on home decoration, and used the money he earned to buy many fashionable and expensive furnishings [1].
But times have changed now, and customers want to be able to intuitively see the medicines they take.
Therefore, the current owner Quedlin expanded the store and separated the herbal processing and storage room from the laboratory [2]. The drug sorting table originally placed in the store was also replaced with a long and narrow counter, trying to give patients who come in a spacious stay area. .
"It was built on March 24, 1751. It's engraved on the sign." Quedlin pointed to the door and asked Kavi, "Why are you asking about the date when the store was founded? Aren't you here to buy medicine?"
Kawei nodded quickly: "Uh, yes, I'm here to buy medicine."
The family motto passed down from three generations of the Luoma family: When opening a business, you must be responsive to requests. Even if you are terminally ill, you should try your best to meet the basic needs of customers. For example, the color of the potion, the raw materials used, the taste, etc., the purpose is to cure diseases by adapting to circumstances, and caring is the key.
But when it came to his hands, it seemed like he was going to make an exception.
"If you don't want to buy medicine, please leave. I still have business here."
"Buy it, I will definitely buy it." Kavi walked to the counter, took out a 20-kronor note from his pocket, and said with a smile, "Just give me a bottle of medicine specially designed to treat headaches and fevers. My mother recently The fever is severe."
"Headache and fever..."
Quedlin put down the book in his hand, stood up and took out a distinctive white bowl from the medicine cabinet on the side, placing it in front of Kavi: "According to the four-fluid theory [3], fever is closely related to the increase in blood. . I think you can try this, I just bought it from a supplier in Hungary."
Too much blood?
Kawei frowned, as if he noticed something. As the porous lid on the white basin was opened by Quedlin, black squirming little worms revealed the answer on the spot: a jar of healthy and hungry leeches [4].
"Is this going to be bloodletting?"
"Yes, bloodletting [5]."
Quedlin reached into the jar like a beloved pet and easily fished out a wet leech from the water. He kept changing the position of his hands to prevent them from biting his skin: "These are Hungarian medicinal leeches with pure blood [6]. They are of medium size and are just right for use on patients."
Kawei didn't feel disgusted, but he really couldn't like it: "Is there any other way?"
"Anything else?" Quedlin threw the leech into the jar and asked, "Are there any other symptoms besides headache and fever?"
"Emmm... cough." Kawei's eyes were full of those dark little guys. He didn't listen carefully to what he said, so he said casually, "The cough is quite severe."
"It seems to be a problem with the lungs. I suggest you bleed."
Quedlin rapped the jar with his knuckles and spoke in a very confident tone. In addition to his age of over fifty, he looked like an old director with decades of clinical experience: "Once every three days, 5 times for a total of 150 Heller, 6 treatments per course. If it’s too expensive, you can also choose to use a scratcher [7] and a suction can.”
After saying that, he skillfully took out these two items from the cupboard.
Kawei has just traveled through time, and his surgical thinking has basically come over, but internal medicine is still in the modern era and has not been touched much. He never thought that blood would need to be bled even if he had a headache or a fever. Bleeding could really be done on everything: "It's better to use medicine. My mother doesn't like this kind of thing very much."
Quedlin sighed: "This is the first time I've seen someone who doesn't like bloodletting..."
"Haha, my mother is a weirdo." Kawei had no choice but to respond aloud.
"I have a cough, a headache, and a fever. There are so many symptoms. Let me think about it..."
Quedlin glanced at the 20-kronor note in Kavi's hand. Although it didn't match the other person's dress, the money couldn't be fake. He turned his back, rummaged in the cupboard, took out a golden round pot, and poured out a coffee-colored pill: "Would you like to try this?"
"What kind of medicine is this?"
"The treasure of my family's store - the panacea."
Quedlin turned the pot over to reveal a homemade label. The product name is "Panax" [8], and below it is a crappy advertising line: Recommended by the famous internist at Hartman Hospital [Posa Crocoy], it will definitely cure all diseases, and you will be punished five times for falsehoods. ten.
"this......"
Panacea is a lie in the face of modern thinking, but this is the 19th century, and you still have to do as the Romans do, even if it's just a pretense: "How much?"
When it came to money, Quedlin finally showed a smile on his face: "20 crowns a bottle."
Kawei glanced at the banknotes in his hand and continued to ask: "How many are in it?"
"50 pills."
40 Helles a pill is indeed expensive enough, and it can also bear the title of a panacea. As for the effect, Kawei really didn't dare to draw a conclusion, and there was no specific drug experiment to help him draw a conclusion: "I only have 20 crowns left on me. Is the medicine really effective?"
"Yes, absolutely!" the boss said excitedly, pointing to the label, "Did you see it? If you don't, you will be fined fifty!"
Kawei looked at the exaggerated odds and quickly sensed a hint of deception: "How can it be considered fake?"
"It's just a lie if your body doesn't react after eating it."
This sounds reasonable at first, but in Kawei's eyes, the pit is even bigger, and the hand holding the 20 kroner is squeezing tighter: "What are the usual reactions after eating it?"
Quedlin had never seen such entangled family members of patients. He wanted to refuse the business, but looking at the brand new 20 crowns, he felt very honest.
Of course, when the words are explained, the tone will definitely sound impatient: "Generally there will be some mild diarrhea, and people will become very energetic. The cough will be relieved within the same day, and the fastest for high fever will be one day, and the slowest three to five days." Will retreat."
"What if the fever doesn't go away?"
"If the fever doesn't go away, then it's a terminal illness."
Kavi:?
Quedlin's confidence seemed to be able to withstand repeated questioning: "You have to know that all the patients who drank the potion recovered in a short time. Except for those patients who were incurable, they all died, so this Planting potions will only fail in the face of terminal illness.”
Kavi:? ? ?
The sophistry formed a hidden and perfect closed loop under the boss's clever tongue. In addition, there is a famous doctor's platform on the drug label, making it difficult for people to believe it.
"This medicine is in limited supply. Do you want to buy it?"
While Kawei was still hesitating, the door of the drug store was gently pushed open, and with the crisp ringing of the bell, a man walked in: "Boss, I'm here again."
"It's Mr. Alphonse." Quedlin saw a regular customer and greeted him with a smile. "Today's leeches have been prepared for you. Please sit down and I will help you bleed later."
"Later?" Alphonse was a little anxious, "I'm going back to the restaurant to do some work later, so why don't you help me first..."
"It's Mr. Alphonse."
Only then did he follow the direction of the voice and see the young man in front of the counter clearly. Suddenly, he felt mixed emotions and an inexplicable feeling: "Poor boy from two days ago? Why are you here?"
"My mother is not feeling well, so she came to buy some medicine." Kawei didn't explain much, he just wanted to ask about the panacea, "Does sir know about this medicine?"
"Panic elixir? Of course I know that." Alphonse stepped forward, picked up a pill and put it in front of his nose and smelled it. "I heard that a lot of good ingredients were used, but they are too expensive. I can't take them." It’s better to let out some blood.”
Kawei couldn't understand it again: "Mr. Alphonse, you are joking again. 40 Hellers a pill shouldn't be expensive for you."
"40?" Alphonse was a little confused. "Last time I came here, it was said to be 4 crowns a piece. Why did it change to 40 heles?"
The price suddenly differed by 10 times, causing the two of them to look at Quedlin at the same time. The shrewd boss didn't feel too embarrassed and took out another medicine pot of the same style from the cabinet on the side. It still says Theriac, and the slogan is almost the same, but...
"This medicine is different."
"Has it been purified?"
Quedlin didn't explain much, wanting to use facts to prove his point.
He opened the medicine pot and took out a pill that shone with silver luster. He was quite proud: "This Theriac specially contains Mediterranean coral powder, musk and snake bone powder. It has sugar coating and exquisite silver paper packaging. The cost is shown. Here, it is a special offering for the royal family, and the price will definitely be higher.” [9]
Kawei was stunned for a moment, not understanding the effect of adding these things to the medicine.
But Alphonse on the side suddenly understood and felt that it made sense: "So that's it, 200 crowns for a pot?"
"right."
Alphonse picked up another pill and was very fond of the shiny silver paper: "The packaging is good. If bloodletting doesn't solve my problem, I might give it a try."
...
Kawei was not willing to spend the money, and the 20 kronor finally returned to his own pocket intact. After all, this is Ignatz's money. If there is no good reason, it is not appropriate to use it without permission.
Neither the drug store's 0 harvest nor Quedlin's strange look shocked him. Now Kavi is squatting next to Alphonse, carefully observing how those little guys work: "How do you feel?"
"I feel nothing, no pain."
Alphonse sat on the treatment chair in the drug store, looking up at the ceiling, enjoying the feeling of being kissed and sucked on his calves: "The chair here is good, it just allows me to relax. Recently, I have been dealing with the treatment of those patients shipped from Belgium. The hare, the Royal Hare Cuisine [10] takes too much effort.”
"Rabbit? Do the French eat rabbit?"
"Of course, Hare Cuisine is a bit old."
Speaking of rabbits, the first thing Kawi thought of was rabbit heads. No matter how cruel France is, it can't match the taste of the Sichuan people: "Even you can't cook with rabbit heads, right?"
"Head? How do you eat a rabbit head?" Alphonse was a little curious. "The bones are too troublesome and there is not much meat. When you bite them, you just get a layer of skin."
Kawei is not a chef, so he can imagine that rabbit heads are not just for eating: "Since you have been making hare dishes, you should still have a lot of rabbit heads there, right?"
"Yes, I throw away several every day."
"I think it's better not to throw it away, just leave it all to me."
