Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1913-07-31
Perpetual
Youth
A Case In Which 1t Would
Not Work Well
BY F. A. NIT HEEL

the legs OF human beings and other
wise repairing the human body claim
that they are on the way to cut out
substances which lead to decay OF
bring on old age and when they sue
coed we shall always be able to re-,
main young"
"H'm" grunted Won Buest contemp.
tuonsly.
"You seem to doubt the possibility OF
such a result"
Doubt it! 1t has been done long
ago.
Been done long ago. What do you
mean, professor?"
Professor Won Buest took his pipe
out of his mouth-he was always
smoking-and. looking the other in the
eye, said:
"Reinhard. the conceit of this age is
intolerable. Most of our discoveries
are accidental, though ] will admit
that nowadays our scientists are draw
ing out natures secrets by scientific
experiment. Why shouldn't what has
been accidentally discovered today
have been accidentally discovered be.
fore?"
Because such discoveries electrify
the world. and we all know of them"
Some of them do now that knowl-
edge is so widely diffused. But you
who are German know that there still
remain in the fatherland those who In
vestigate for the love of science and.
despising the world. do not always
give out their discoveries. and when
they do it is because they will benefit
mankind"
What do you mean by saying that
the elixir of life has been discovered? 2"
II did not say that. Listen to ne
and l will impart secret. Pasteur
did not begin our present methods of
microbe investigation Jenner began it
century ago. Why should the idea
lay dormant from the time of .lennerS
suggestion till Pasteur took it up and
developed it? 1t did not lie dormant
Many scientists thought about it. and
some made experiments based on the
idea of vaccination which Jenner pro
pounded.
1T is needless to tell you how be
came scientist. You know all about
it. was born a scientist. When |
was little boy was wondering what
held the clouds in position. why OBJ
jects We're reelected in soap bubbles.
how animals walked. When | was six
years old killed my pet kitten to see
it's works. which supposed to be sim
liar to those of clock. That may
seem shocking to yon. but it was the
beginning of Investigations which led
me to prolong life.
AT eighteen left the university. /
had found the professors stupid lot.
handing down what they considered
knowledge from one generation to an
other. Some of it was knowledge but
the most of it was error The first
president OF this republic. Washington.
was killed by just such men. who. fol
lowing an ancient theory of letting
blood in case of fever. bled the Father
of His Country to death. came into
my estate soon after leaving the uni
versity. a landed property in Pomera-
MIA on the Baltic sea. There. rid of the
false knowledge that flooded the world.
established my laboratory.
81 followed up the killing of my kit
ten by an onslaught upon such inferior
animals as would give me the secrets
of nature. worked twenty years. at
the end of which time | discovered an
antitoSin for the decay that accompa
MES age"
'Why, professor interrupted Rein
hard. "You are seventy and you look
seventy. If you discovered this anti
toxin, why did you not arrest the eff
fects of age in yourself?"
Not so fast. my friend. AT the time
made the discovery was forty years
old. could not bring back my youth
and the beginning of disease is the
time to arrest it. There is another rea
son. did not hunt for my antitoxin
because I wished to live forever. since
knew this would bring me intolerable
misery. l experimental to satisfy my
thirst for knowledge. And now car
explain to you why the world never
got my secret. did not wish to cause
my fellow men to suffer. At my pres
ent age have lived too long. Had
the physical strength of youth the
mental ennui of age would be with me
And what would this ennui be in an
other seventy or twice seventy years?
I'm the lonely region in which lived
had one congenial friend-Weisbard
His tastes were not my tastes or
should have hated him. In his world
found something different. something
to treshen me- To him alone con
tdrd my secret. l had cause to re
greet my confidence. He had a daugh
ter fifteen years old. lovely. beauti
full girl. Gould you keep her as sh,
is today he said to me. the rest o
my life would be supremely happy
81 sighed. for | knew that desir,
to preserve his daughters youth would
master him and he would pursue nj
till consented to give her perpetua
! Youth paid no attention to thi