The moral that this story teaches is the same eternal lesson of all
time, as expressed through the medium of Biology: that not by art or
artifice can health be cheaply snatched at will from the Infinite
Sources of Life, but that by consistently following the guidance of
Nature's Laws the healthy functions of the human organism may alone be
correctly maintained, or, when driven by ill-treatment into decline, it
is the rational scientific assistance we afford to the efforts of
Nature, by which alone we may hope to re-establish that normal condition
of health. For, in the worthy words of Wordsworth I may say: "So build
we up the being that we are."

The writer does not claim for this method so great a degree of
simplicity. But he does base it upon the same truth that simplicity and
a return to natural conditions are the only ways of effectively healing
the diseased body.

Guided by the great masters of biology and physiological chemistry, his
object has been to determine the elements of which the twelve main
tissues of the human body are composed and to learn in what manner these
tissues suffer from the various diseases which attack them.

Were I desirous of emulating the illustrious Boerhaave, I might
concentrate my work into these few words: _Supply the system with the
necessary constituents of its tissues and at the same time assist the
organism by means of simple and natural appliances, and REGENERATION
will continue until the desired physiological condition is reached._

In so doing, I fear, I should bequeath but little to the comprehension
of humanity.