Amazing Stories, August 1927 — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

4§2 a number which for several weeks have remained unchanged, yet which, under normal conditions, would have died of old age long ago. We are now ready to test our methods upon higher forms of life. Tomorrow we shall treat rabbits and guinea pigs, some potted plants and some birds. Montross has an ancient toothless dog of which he is very fond, but which he must destroy very soon. He is to try the effect of our treatment upon the beast. E. has offered a parrot which has been for many years in her family and which shows evidences of extreme age. Johnson facetiously offered to steal a decrepit cab horse and bring the creature to the laboratory, while Burke declared the best subject would be our octogenarian state senator, and Red- field suggested that we try the treatment on the local trolley line. We are all so elated that such nonsense is forgivable, and we are all terribly in earnest and are under such a nerve strain that we must find an outlet for our feelings. That we are on the verge of proving the epochal discovery we have made, I am convinced, for microscopic exam- inations of the cells and tissues which I have pre- pared show undeniable proofs of marvelous rejuve- nation and increased vigor and resistance. . “We cannot believe our senses. Every experi- ment has been a tremendous success. Three days ago Montross’s dog was a miserable half-blind, toothless thing and today he is frisking about like a puppy; he can see almost as well as ever and teeth are sprouting from his gums. E.’s ancient parrot is gay with the plumage of a young bird, he talks and chatters constantly, and climbs about like an acrobat. So marvelous were the results that Burke, Redfield, Johnson and several of the others insisted on taking the treatment despite my advice, for I fear there are possibilities which we did not foresee and which may not be alto- gether desirable. I had sought for means of re- taining youth, but our discovery goes beyond that and restores youth. In all probability further re- searches and experiments will enable us to ad- minister a treatment in such a manner that almost any desired condition of maturity may be attained and permanently fixed, but at present we cannot be sure how much of age will be wiped away and how much of youthfulness will be restored. Earn- estly I pointed out to Burke and Redfield that it would be far from desirable or pleasant if, after taking a treatment, they should be transformed to beardless boys, irresponsible youngsters whom no one would recognize. But they were adamant. They argued that by taking a light treatment they could test out the powers of the Juvenum, that as they had made the experiments possible they should be entitled to be the first to test the effects of the discovery, and that they hadn’t the slightest fear of its restoring too much of their past youth. Johnson and the others sided with them, and at last, realizing, I fear a bit selfishly, that some one had to be the first to take the test, I consented. “But I insisted that only a very light, almost superficial, treatment should be given, and to this they consented. I have watched them carefully; E. has kept accurate records of their pulse, respir- ation and temperature, and we find that they already show distinct signs of slight rejuvenation Ing signs of growing constantly younger. AMAZING STORIES Johnson and the other young men show it the most markedly, but this is to be expected of course, as their systems are more responsive and less de- terioration of cells and tissues renders the action of the treatment more rapid. Ss “Everything is most satisfactory. Burke and Redfield look like men of forty, and declare they feel better than they have felt for years. Johnson has the fresh color and spirits of twenty, and his companions are in practically the same condition. Today, Montross took the treatment, and E. in- sists she will do so tomorrow. Of course, in that case, I can do no less than follow, and yet, some- how, I have a premonition that we have not yet learned all the powers or peculiarities of Juvenum, and that we have been over-hasty in submitting ourselves to the tests. . “A terrible thing has happened. My worst fears have been confirmed. We have all taken the treat- ment and we are all in the same awful predicament. “For several days the animals treated remained in the same state to which they had been altered by the treatment. Then, to my horror and amaze- ment, I noticed that the dog and parrot were show- The cur was acting more and more like a puppy; the parrot was losing its full plumage and was ac- quiring pin-feathers. I hurried to the apartments of Burke and Redfield and found both men in seclu- sion. Burke, who had been a stout, florid man of sixty had become unrecognizable as a young man of thirty,— slender, freckle-faced and red-haired. Redfield’s alteration was even worse. From the paunchy, gray-whiskered banker he had become transformed into a sallow-faced young man, and, catching a glimpse of myself in a mirror, I dis- covered that I, too, have lost ten years in appear- ance. Almost too distraught to express my fears I rushed madly to E.’s office. But instead of the woman I had expected to wed I found a beautiful girl who, outwardly at least, appeared no more than twenty years of age. She, however, did not share my fears. She was overjoyed at the recovery of her youthful beauty and she was elated at the change which had taken place in myself. In vain I tried to explain to her that if the rejuvenation process continued we would all be regarded as mere boys and girls; that already Burke and Red- field were afraid to appear before their employees. “But she, perhaps because of her medical and anatomical knowledge, argued that my fears were groundless. We were, as I well knew, in full possession of all the knowledge and experience we had acquired during our lives. Regardless of physical appearances we were mature, experienced, and fully developed mentally, and, she added, un- questionably the banker and merchant, with their youthful frame and vigor, could accomplish far more than in their physically aged condition. FTER a time I felt that perhaps she was right. But I still feared that the process of rejuvenation might continue, that no one could fore- tell when it would cease. “The only thing to do was to devote all of our — energies: to finding a means to control the actio 1d sutafortna) icbooks.com re parm