The story begins with old Dr. Heidegger inviting four elderly friends over to his rather eerie study: Colonel Killigrew, Mr. Medbourne, Mr. Gascoigne, and the Widow Wycherly. The four old folks have all fallen a long way from their prime; each squandered his own type of fortune (youth, money, power, beauty) and is now in a miserable state. The narrator also informs us that, when they were young, the three men used to fight over the attention of the Widow Wycherly.Heidegger's creepy study contains, among other things, a bust of Hippocrates with whom Dr. Heidegger consults from time to time, a magic black book, a skeleton in a closet, and a mirror that supposedly contains the visages of Heidegger's dead patients. The Doctor presents his guests with four empty champagne glasses and an ornate vase full of clear, bubbling liquid. He takes an old, withered rose, drops it into the vase, and shows his guests that it has in fact been rejuvenated to a fresh-blooming flower.

Dr. Heidegger then claims that the liquid in the vase is water from the mythical Fountain of Youth. He would like their help in an experiment: they drink the water, he sits back and watches. The guests are clearly skeptical, but they agree. Before they drink, Dr. Heidegger warns them not to make the same mistakes they did the first time they were young. The guests drink, and they believe they have grown young again. (Whether or not they actually are physically transformed is ambiguous.) Of course, they act like fools, and the three men end up wrestling each other for the Widow's attention. In their tussling they knock over the vase, which spills the elixir all over the floor.It doesn't take long for the effects of the potion to wear off, and the four guests find that they are old again. Dr. Heidegger does not regret the spilled elixir; he has learned his lesson by watching his guests, and would not drink the water for anything. The guests, however, have learned nothing, and vow to travel to Florida, find the fountain of youth, and drink from it day and night.
As compared to the movie, it was way different but had the some closely related actions. It all begun when Dr. Heidegger was having dinner with his old time friend called Alex. Unfortunately, it was raining that night. Dr. Kept talking about his dead wife called sylvia,who he was about to get married to but died on the wedding day. It was 38years since she died and Dr. Heidegger kept talkn about the good old times he had with her when she was alive. Suddenly, they heard a thunder rumbling and decided to go and figure out what was wrong. Not knowing the door on the grave yard had been struck by the thunder bolt and cracked it opened. He decidedd to go in and check if Sylvia's body was okay. When he got in there, everything seems to be okay but can see water dripping off from the roof where sylvia's grave is. He tries to open it but his friend tells him not to, but he insisted to find out if sylvia's body is still in a condition or not. For his surprise, he saw that sylvia's body was the same as it was from the day that she was buried. Furthermore, he came to realized that, the water dripping from the roof has kept sylia's body till this day, so he tries to get some of the water and makes an experiment with it to prove it for sure. So he bring out a rose flower sylvia gave her when she was alive and poured on it the water he got from the grave yard. Fortunately, the flower was revived which proved that, it is indeed the water that preserved sylvia's body. He then tries to drink some and see what happens, he had a shot and soon after he begun to feel young. He then tries to convince his friend to try it as well, so they both drunk the water and felt young again. There was one thing left, he knew that everything he uses the water on makes it new and fresh. So he decides to give sylvia just a drop of it, and see if she is going to come back to life or not.
Moreover, Alex tries to warn and convince him not to do it but Dr. Heidegger insisted on doing it just to see her wife come back to life. He gave her a drop of the water and everthing seems to be normal and sylvia comes back to life. She didnt know what had happened and Dr. Heidegger tells her the story. He then decides to go upstairs to go get the wedding dressing sylvia never got to wear before she decided. On his way down, he hears Alex and Sylia having a conversation. Not knowing Alex was in love with his wife and did not want to see sylvia get married to his best friend so he decided to kill her to end everything. They both got in a fight and accidently tha vase containing the water fell and broke and Alex ended up killing Dr. Heidegger. He turned and saw sylvia turn into a skeleton and quickly runs to get a cup of water from the grave yard but upon reaching there, there was no water. This clearly tshow us that, nothing on this earth lasts for eternity so we have alll what we got tomake good choices and live a better life. Thus,Alex was just trying to get back wanted he wanted so he could be with sylvia but ended up killing his best friend.
Dr. Heidegger's Experimen is rooted in a rather pessimistic view of human nature. The story argues that people are, for the most part, fools. They don't learn from their mistakes, they're generally petty, and we can't expect anyone to change for the better. In this story, foolishness is particularly associated with youth, or at least a youthful state of mind. Hawthorne does provide a counter-example to his foolish characters in the form of Dr. Heidegger, but even this character has his sinister side.It also explores questions of age and behavior. What does it mean to be old? What does it mean to be young? What is the difference between defining age physically, and defining it mentally or emotionally? One interpretation of the text suggests that age is a state of mind; if one believes one is young, one will act accordingly. The story's moralistic side argues that youth is associated with folly, but offers no hope for redemption in older age, either.The whole part of the movie and the story leads of illusion, deception, and doubt. The title character makes use of theatricality, wishful thinking, and even alcohol (in one interpretation of the story) to make experimental subjects of his friends. This illusory trickery even seeps into the narration , the narrator's shadowy evasions raise similar questions for the reader of what is real, what is fictional, and, most interestingly, whether or not it matters. Which to me was very fascinating and was well narrated too. Well, being transformed is not a bad thing but to certain extents seems to be not goo. Dr Heideggers friend(s) who were transformed or at least think they are transformed back to young, vivacious individuals. The text plays with the idea of what it means to be transformed physically as opposed to mentally, and which actually takes place in the story is subject to debate. Hawthorne also asks whether we can learn from a transformation, particularly one as ephemeral as that which takes place in this story. Pessimistically, the narrative seems to conclude that we can not.

In addition,the big question i found myself asking as i read "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" was whether or not the elixir he gives his guests is actually water from the Fountain of Youth that turns his guests young again; or whether it's just an illusion, a trick that Heidegger has cooked up in order to prove his point.But there were enough mystical and spooky items detailed found in the third paragraph to place the reader firmly in the realm of the supernatural. The narrator sets us up for other-worldly events before the hinge of the plot even unfolds. Heidegger has a book of magic, a bust that speaks, a skeleton in his closet, a portrait that can move, and a mirror that holds the faces of all his dead patients. This is not realism it's fantasy.The rose is great evidence for this as well; the guests haven't had anything to drink yet, booze or not, so they are in their right mind when Heidegger transforms the rose before their eyes.In the obscurest corner of the room stood a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which doubtfully appeared a skeleton.This brings us rather quickly to the issue of Heidegger's dead fiancée, which is one heck of a closeted skeleton (though, we soon see, not so carefully closeted). We see a large portrait of a young lady, and get a brief explanation from the narrator: "Dr. Heidegger had been on the point of marriage with this young lady; but, being afflicted with some slight disorder, she had swallowed one of her lover's prescriptions, and died on the bridal evening.
Again, this is rather creepy. The mirror, like the black folio and the skeleton in the closet, complicates Dr. Heidegger's character and adds yet another sinister shadow to a growing collection of dark secrets. If Dr. Heidegger has that many dead patients, we might wonder if he's a very good doctor at all. Is he haunted by their spirits? If so, is it because he is guilty for their deaths? Or does he simply feel guilty because he's a good man, yet bears no actual responsibility? Or perhaps he is not haunted by these spirits, but as with Hippocrates, consults with and can learn from them. We really can't be sure. Add this to the list of quasi-supernatural Heidegger riddles we can't quite crack.Also, we don't know what to make of the mirror's reflection. It might mean that the elixir is real, but only transforms its drinkers physically. The mirror, which has its own mystical powers, is able to reflect the real nature of the romping guests (in their souls, they are still old). Or, it could be that the mirror is perfectly ordinary, and the elixir is totally fake. The mirror shows us reality, whereas the guests are prancing about in an alcohol-induced stupor. One thing we can be sure of is that Hawthorne wants us asking these questions; the mirror is just another detail that keeps us guessing.The rose anticipates what happens to the guests. Dr. Heidegger first uses it to demonstrate the rejuvenating power of the elixir; and later it withers right before the same thing happens to the old guests. If you believe that the elixir is nothing more than alcohol, then the rose is a key part of the dramatic show that Heidegger puts on for his guests in order to convince them that they are in fact growing young and then old again.