CHAPTER 34 - Diethyl Ether (p1)
Early August 1538, Royal Palace, Dharanikota.
"Please have a seat. The king will be with you shortly. He was very focused the last few days and is now trying to make himself… presentable, that's the word. " Vasekar said, leading some advisory council members into a waiting room.
"Do you guys know the reason, His Majesty invited us? It is not common for him to summon us, especially when it is not for a Council meeting." Infrastructure advisor Selvappan asked. He was also running the port town of Machilipatnam, so he was usually occupied.
"No. I was occupied with a trade dispute raised by the Arab traders. They were protesting that we let the Portuguese into the market. Vasekar dear, can you send someone to bring refreshments? I am parched I must say." Trade advisor Montra said as she sat on a cushioned chair.
"He said s...something about helping the patients. I think he was quite affected w…when he visited the hospital the last time. T…the first time does that for you." Hemadri replied to the other council members.
"I had seen him order hundreds of deaths without blinking. How would a trip or two to the hospital affect him?" Selvappan asked him back.
"Seeing the death of an innocent child does that. I almost lost myself, when I lost my son. And, Selva, you are forgetting that, despite his hard exterior, he is still a young man of only 16." Montra expressed her opinion on the matter, causing the atmosphere to become somber.
As the three waited in awkward silence, Vasekar, along with a few of the palace staff came in with the much-needed refreshments. The most notable of them was a pitcher full of a drink, possibly alcohol.
"This is something the Majesty himself produced. Do give your honest feedback." Vasekar said as he poured the drink into each of their glasses. Hemadri tried to deny it, but one look from Vasekar, and he gave in.
Selvappan thought that it would just be like the normal palm wine he was used to and tried to drink the glass whole, which turned out to be a mistake. The drink was a lot stronger than anything he was used to, and he went into a coughing fit.
Montra, meanwhile just smelled it, and took a small sip from it with grace." Hmm, strong. Very strong. What is it called?" she asked, while ignoring the coughing fit of Selvappan, as if it was not happening at all.
"The king has yet to name it, Ms.Montra. Me and the staff, are waiting for him to name it." Vasekar answered, while at the same time giving Selvappan a cloth to wipe while pouring a refill into his glass.
"Why did he want to make 'that'?! And Hemadri, you said it was about helping your patients or something? Help how? By letting them drink themselves to death?" Selvappan questioned after he recovered.
"His Exact words were, 'This is just a by-product. Do with it as you please.' One of the soldiers figured it out it that was high-concentration alcohol and diluted with normal palm wine. You may ask him about it if you please." Vasekar answered and went out of the room again, possibly to get some cleaning staff, for the mess Selvappan made.
"I don't know about you two, but I will be asking His Majesty, about it. Why are you looking at me like that? You cannot just tease me with a wonderful product, and ask me not to inquire about it. Do you know the demand for Good liquor?" Montra answered the questioning looks of the other two members, with a smile, while she continued to sip the drink.
They did not have to wait in that room for long, and Vasekar soon ushered them to the area called 'laboratory' located in a separate building outside the palace main, but inside the fort walls.
It was an unassuming building, whose previous purpose they did not know, but for the last few weeks, The king was cooped up inside the building, leaving anything that popped up for the council.
Upon their arrival, a guard at the door, went inside to inform, and the king quickly rushed out to meet them near the doors. The man was a mess, the beard which used to be shaven daily was now present, the hair looked uncombed, and at least the clothes were fresh, probably a result of Vasekar.
"Ah, Welcome. I forgot that I invited you. Time passes quickly when you are concentrated on something. Hemadri, I hope you will be impressed by what you see, I worked quite hard for it." The king said as he led them inside.
The group passed the guards at the door and went inside the building. They did not know what to think of what they found inside, however. The room was huge and mostly empty. But the portions of it which were occupied contained some weird equipment.
There were large metal containers to the side, some of them filled with liquid slops, with a sweet smell coming from them. "These are my fermenters. The stuff you see inside is a mix of rice and sugarcane. It makes for a good feeder material for the alcohol."
"What exactly are we here for your majesty? I appreciate the drink, but is there any particular reason we are here?" Selvappan asked directly. It was his way of speaking things. Years of working in construction have made him more direct.
"Drink? Vasekar, have you given them the alcohol? That was only the raw stuff. If we want, I can make them much better than that. Besides raw spirits are not good for your health." Rudra said absentmindedly as he moved towards the center equipment.
There were various glass flasks and containers, and beakers filled with various liquids. Aside from the crazy glass equipment, it looked like an alchemist's den.
"This is what I brought you here for. What I am about to show you will revolutionize surgery as we know it. It is called Ether. I am not going to explain it to you but you will see what it does. By the way, this is Guna. He seemed interested in chemicals, so I brought him in to help me with stuff." Rudra showcased the equipment and also introduced a dark-skinned man to them.
"S…surgery? What does it do your majesty?" Hemadri asked, curious that it involved his field. It was obviously not a new method of surgery and other than that, what other significant change could it be?
"Patience! Patience! I worked to get this right for many days. I simply can't give you the answer before showing off first." Rudra said as he led them to the table.
He showed them the glass vessels of different sizes and explained to them " These are the equipment to experiment. This is the main reaction vessel, the distillation flask. The product we require is created here."
The glass vessel was a round-bottomed one, with a long neck. There was a protrusion from the neck, and the tube extended towards the side. How the glass blowers managed to do it, they did not know, but it did not look as complicated as the next piece.
"This tube is called a condenser. See the double-slotted glass tube? It is used to cool the vapors. I need to thank the glass blower for making it look easy. He was talented and saved me a lot of time from learning glass-blowing. " Rudra continued explaining, unbothered by the confused faces of the three ministers.
Selvappan did not know what was going on. With the help of his new alchemical assistant, Rudra explained all the problems they faced while creating them. Selva still did not understand, why he was called here, but he could probably guess.
"And the last of the equipment we worked on was this!" The king showed a bowl full of tall tubes of various sizes, all filled with a metallic liquid. They were all marked with numbers on the side. The king picked one and showed it off "Behold, the THERMOMETER! No longer will you be required to guess the temperature. This helps in precise measurement of it!"
"Is that mercury? So this was the reason you asked me to buy it. Should I need to purchase more of it? Because we purchased all of it that was available locally, and we need to import it if required." Montra said as she recognized the the liquid metal.
"Really? That was all of it? You know what, go ahead, and buy this stuff. It is better to have a reserve than having none." Rudra instructed after he came out of the presentation mode.
"How does that t…thermometer work exactly?" Hemadri questioned, interested in learning about it. If it does what he thinks it does, that means…
"I like your line of thinking, Hemadri. Indeed it can be used to measure body temperature changes. But that is not what we are here for today. Today we are here for another reason, and it will be made in front of your eyes today." The king again slipped into his presentation personality.
"Now the main ingredients. Concentrated Alcohol, or Ethanol, and what you probably know as Vitriol, but I call it Sulphuric Acid. I have to make the first one myself, using those fermenters over there by the entrance, and for the acid? I got it from our Blacksmiths and Goldsmiths. They use it regularly." The king showcased the two sealed glass containers.
"Now Gentlemen, and my lady. Witness the magic of chemistry. " The king said, as he pointed his hands to Guna, the assistant alchemist, who started the first step of the process.