BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 5 



Wiley of the United States Department of Agriculture, her 

 "papers on plant analysis were not only valuable when they 

 were written, but will continue to be so for an indefinite time." 



She had something worth saying in regard to art and litera- 

 ture as well as science. Toward the end of her life she found 

 herself drawn to express her deeper feelings in verse, and there 

 is little doubt that if she had been spared she would have con- 

 tributed valuable thoughts in this beautiful medium. Her 

 numerous friends and all who are interested in the work ac- 

 complished by so daring and fertile a mind, all who admire the 

 splendid progress that women have made of recent years in 

 emancipating themselves from the shackles of conservatism, 

 all who are devoted to science, whether in its stricter analyses 

 or in its popular presentations of great facts, will be glad to 

 possess in valid and tangible form the outcome of Dr. Michael's 

 scientific and literary labors. They are a veritable contribution 

 to the growing collection of books that glorify the age. 



It is a privilege to be allowed to introduce the volume with a 

 brief sketch of its author's career, and to add a few words of 

 appreciation of her lovely nature, her admirable character, her 

 astonishing ability, and her epoch-making work, as well as to 

 express the universal regret that her career was so prematurely 

 cut off, when she seemed to be entering upon a new phase that 

 promised to be of great benefit to her fellow-men. She was a 

 rare and radiant spirit, no less womanly that she chose to vie 

 with men in an active and laborious occupation. 



Helen Cecilia De Silver Abbott, youngest child of James 

 Abbott and Caroline Montelius, was born in Philadelphia, 

 December 23, 1857. After a careful home education under 

 governesses and private teachers, who without exception were 

 delighted with her affectionate apd studious disposition and 

 her extraordinary quickness of mind, she was inclined to make 

 a specialty of music, a genius for which she early manifested. 



She had excellent training. Among her instructors was Miss 

 Mary F. Howell, a talented pianist, a musician of the highest 

 ability, and a remarkable personality. Her father's house be- 

 came the centre of a musical circle, and solo and ensemble play- 

 ing used to delight such audiences as were favored with its 



