Charles Preslin

Charles Preslin was an apothecary in 16th century France.

Biography
Charles Preslin lived in Paris, near Port Saint Martin, and was part of a brotherhood of apothecaries of which he was the most advanced. He discovered and named germs, attracting the suspicions and disapproval of Cardinal Charles de Guise and the Abbot of Amboise (TV: The Massacre) when he was mentioned in a footnote in a scientific journal in 1566. (PROSE: The Massacre) Circa 1570, he was imprisoned for heresy.

According to one account, Preslin prepared to leave Paris in August 1572 to avoid persecution after the Cardinal travelled to Rome and left the Abbot in charge. He met the First Doctor, who knew of his work and visited him to discuss his ideas, and told him about the situation with the Huguenots. He paid a boy to take the Doctor to the Abbot's house and left the city, before which the Doctor told him about a man in Germany who was working on a machine which would allow Preslin to see germs. (TV: The Massacre)

According to another account, Preslin and his colleagues, David and Jules, worked with Gaston Lerans and Nicholas Muss to protect Huguenots using a system of Roman tunnels beneath the city. When he was visited by the Doctor, who did not know the nature of Preslin's work, Preslin was suspicious and believed for a time that he was the Abbot in disguise when the resemblance between the two was noticed. The Doctor later sent him and his colleagues to Germany using the Abbot's seal, which the Time Lords disapproved of but could not prove. (PROSE: The Massacre)

Legacy
The First Doctor first learnt about Preslin from a footnote in a half-destroyed scientific journal that he once found before his visit to 1572 Paris. (PROSE: The Massacre)

Personality
Preslin was a secretive man who did not like strangers and never answered his front door. (PROSE: The Massacre)

Appearance
In his fifties, Preslin was slim and balding with unkempt shoulder-length grey hair and a careworn face. He was of average height. (PROSE: The Massacre)