10 SIMON HENRY GAGE 
lectures in embryology at Cornell he says, concerning the muscle 
work: “I was greatly interested in your wife’s muscle prepara- 
tions which are convincing as to the great accuracy of her 
observations.” 
-As shown by the list of her publications at the end, her inde- 
pendent work covered a considerable range, and she joined in 
the preparation of papers upon a variety of subjects. But her 
main work was in neurology, for as a student, and especially as 
a member of Prof. Burt G. Wilder’s seminary, the nervous sys- 
tem grew in fascination for her. It is not known by many, 
perhaps, that as assistant to Louis Agassiz, Dr. Wilder was 
urged by that great man to interest himself in the nervous sys- 
tem. Finally the wisdom of Agassiz’ advice appealed strongly 
to him and as early as the college year 1870-1871, Dr. Wilder 
gave a special course in comparative neurology. In 1875 this 
course in neurology became fully established in Cornell. As 
stated in the introduction to the Wilder Quarter Century Book: 
“Tt isin this course of neurology perhaps more than in any 
other that is realized [in him] the picture drawn by Agassiz, in 
his address at the inauguration of Cornell University, of the 
teacher going before his class with his own thoughts and as an 
elder brother inspiring his pupils to the most enthusiastic 
effort.” 
Certain it is that the inspiration for her was masterful, and 
with growing maturity of thought, the phylogeny, development 
and morphology of the nervous system was to her the supreme 
question in biology. 
Of her twenty-six independent publications, ten were upon 
neurology. These were her most important papers and they 
comprised 65 per cent of the total number of pages written by 
her. An estimate of the value of her papers would hardly be 
in place here. It may be said, however, that her writing has a 
clearness and directness that make her meaning unmistakable. 
She did not hope to have all agree with her, but she did hope 
that all could understand exactly what she meant. She had 
no patience with the oracular form of writing which could be 
interpreted in almost any way, and to which discoveries made 
long afterward could be referred. 
