victor, explain yourself.
you have a way of provoking his. i've been watching you. you seem impatient with your studies.
you disdain accepted wisdom?
i understand your frustration. i was young once myself. walk me home. something i'd like to show you.
you know for thousands of years the chinese have based their medical science on the belief that the human body is a chemical engine run by electricity? they say we all contain streams of energy which flow through us like currents in the ocean, or rivers in the earth.
their doctors treat patients by inserting needles like these into the flesh at various key points to manipulate these electric streams.
i once saw it done, as a boy in canton. my parents were missionaries. the cure was nothing short of miraculous. i've never forgotten it. been fascinated ever since.
magic. seems alive, doesn't it?
electricity.
why? god alone knows what it means. until it has proven value, it's nothing more than a ghoulish parlor trick. hardly fit for the classroom.
it is a thrilling direction to explore. thrilling and dangerous. nature can be wonderful and terrible. science is not a realm for the reckless; it needs a conscience. we must proceed cautiously. assess as we go. what i do on my own time is my own business. the same holds true for you. you wish to expand your mind? fine, do so. you can even join me here, if you like. but not at the expense of your normal studies.
nonsense. tonight you will draft an apology to professor krempe.
". a sincere and heartfelt apology which you will then read aloud to him before the assembled student body and faculty.
our profession needs talent like yours. destroy your career over an issue of pride? what a waste.
go home, victor. write the letter,
re-configure the leads?
worth a try.
victor. he was trying to be gracious.
i'm quite serious. look at all the charity and clinic work we do. up until thirty years ago, the concept of vaccine was unheard of.
i'm convinced. not by treating symptoms, but by diving nature's most jealously-guarded secrets.
no. but someday.
oh, now you have gone too far. there's only one god, victor.
no, it's not pox, it's a vaccine.
vaccine, from the latin vacca, meaning cow . or vaccinia, meaning cowpox.
no, no, cowpox in a minute quantity, perfectly harmless, gives you a natural immunity to small ox, which is the point of this whole bloody exercise.
i most assuredly am! it prevents disease and it's the law! why am i explaining myself? somebody restrain this damn fool!
oh god.