Chapters Tongue and The First Body Summary

The principle timeline of Chapter Tongue, page 83, is set in Manila in 1902. Salvador Carriscant, a British National of mixed heritage, recalls how he had returned to Manila in 1897 with a then-modern understanding of surgery obtained in a first-rate European education. He joined the San Jerónimo hospital staff as a surgeon and quickly became famous. At the hospital he develops a long-running feud with Dr. Isidro Cruz, the chief surgeon and senior practitioner at the hospital. Cruz favors old methods such as bleeding, operating without anesthetic, and using various blistering chemicals. Carriscant considers Cruz a dangerous quack; Cruz considers Carriscant a dangerous radical. Both men's professional feud quickly turns personal. Also at San Jerónimo, the brilliant physician Pantaleon Quiroga works as an anesthesiologist. Pantaleon is fully educated in modern techniques but lacks...