Tiny little organisms - what had Leeuwenhoek called them? Animalcules. He didn’t think they had anything to do with illnesses though, and then there’d been the cell theory first introduced by Hooke and his experiments with cork.

He continues to be distracted by the running thoughts in his own mind, barely even flinching when the needle pierces his skin. It all hurts, there’s really no difference in it anymore.

“Fascinating,” he mutters, twitching slightly when his skin is pulled taut. “If small organisms cause infection, that must be why consumption spreads so quickly aboard ships,” he murmurs to himself. Cleanliness did keep away most illnesses…he’ll have to discuss with Goodsir later.

Another reason to keep himself alive. He laughs to himself, immediately wincing in pain from it.