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What effect did Dr. Heidegger's youth water have on his friends?
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Dr. Heidegger's youth water temporarily rejuvenates his friends, restoring their physical youthfulness and vigor. They become more cheerful and exhibit a healthy appearance, but their personalities remain unchanged, repeating past mistakes. Mr. Gascoigne rambles about politics, Colonel Killigrew is flirtatious, Mr. Medbourne plans risky ventures, and Widow Wycherly obsesses over her beauty. When the effects fade, they resolve to seek the Fountain of Youth for permanent rejuvenation.
Dr. Heidegger’s friends have all experienced great difficulties in their lives, as most people generally have. Mr. Medbourne lost all his riches to a “frantic speculation” and now lives almost like a beggar; Colonel Killigrew lived quite the extravagant life, indulging in “sinful pleasures," and now suffers from ill health; Mr. Gascoigne has a foul reputation as a politician; and widow Wycherly’s past scandalous relationships still haunt her to date.
Dr. Heidegger’s water of youth, just as the name suggests, transforms things into a state of youthfulness. The doctor himself prefers to observe rather than participate in the experiment meant to find out the effect of the liquid on humans, for, as he says, “he has had so much trouble in growing old that he is in no hurry to grow young again.”
Immediately after partaking of the liquid, the visitors experience great physical changes of their bodies. They become...
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brighter, more cheerful; there is “a healthful suffusion on their cheeks,” and they become almost youths again. However, these physical changes are not accompanied by a renewed outlook on life. For instance, all the visitors are keener on the fleeting physical attributes of youthfulness than on the opportunities that it brings to them, allowing them to correct past mistakes. Again, all of them do the same things they did in their youth: Mr. Gascoigne talks without end on various frivolous political issues, not deviating much from what he was in his youth; the colonel is flirtatious; Mr. Medbourne is busy thinking about another risky business venture in the East Indies; and the widow is so in awe of her beauty that she cannot pull herself away from the mirror.
When they finally realize that the changes brought about by the water of youth are impermanent, they decide to themselves visit the Fountain of Youth, to forever partake of its waters.