Page 304 - The Grotesque Children's Book

“Poison!”

“Small traces, which won’t harm Bianca. You recall I am exploring the ideas put forth
by Bernard de Gordon of France, including the notion that increasing dosages of traces of poison
can strengthen a body over time. Bianca, for instance, seems to be responding to arsenic.”

“You’re poisoning Bianca!?” shouted the Duke.

“My liege, listen. No. I initially started with oils from the castor plant, and that seemed
to calm her a little, but not cure her fevers.”

“Ah, her fevers.”

“Yes,” said the doctor. “They seem very regular. Every three days she’ll have a bout.
But then she’ll recover and be fine for two days. Then the fever returns.”

“Yes.”

“It’s awful,” said Valerius. “Just when I think she’s healthy again. There are some
varieties of fever which return, as in Bianca’s case, every three days. Some varieties occur every
four days. Others, rarer, every other day. I had hopes in the recommendation of the oil of the
caster plant, but as I say, I did not notice an improvement. So I next tried spikenard --”

“Spikenard!”

“A common flower, your Grace. But there have been some doctors reporting positive
results in some of their patients.”

The Duke grinned and stood up. “Then let’s get as much spikenard as we can gather! I’ll
put a battalion on it.”

“No, your Grace, too much of anything might hurt her. The proper method is to try mild
doses of one thing for a period of time and observe and record the results, then try another
treatment for a period of time and observe any differences. And even try drops of plain water;
that is, nothing, to see whether it’s medicine in general which is having any effect, or --”

“You’re experimenting on my Bianca!”

“No, your Grace.” Oh, dear, thought Valerius, this is not going well. I need him to
understand my scientific approach. “Not everyone responds in the same way to each medicine.
It could be, for instance, that theriac might be exactly right for Bianca whereas you might
respond better to, say, arsenic or quinine.”

“You keep saying arsenic!” The Duke was pacing the room now.

“It occurs in the bark of the cinchona plant, and has been very effective in curing tertian
fever in Peru.”

“Tertian fever! Bianca has tertian fever!? Tertian fever killed nearly everyone in
Sardinia. Not here in Florence. Bianca’s never been to Sardinia.”

“Someone in Sardinia might have traveled to Genoa, say, where there’s been a recent
increase. It’s apparently contagious.”

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