5 2 
HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
“The Pringsheims were charming. The old professor espe¬ 
cially was kind, giving me cards of introduction to those for 
whom I asked, also to others. The wife spoke only German 
and French, but the daughters spoke very good English. I 
cannot speak enough of the genuine kindness shown me. Mrs. 
Pringsheim invited me to come to her home and stay with her. 
My letter from Ladenburg must have been especially intro¬ 
ductory from the reception I received. Mrs. Pringsheim thought 
that of course it was strange for a lady to come over for such a 
purpose as I had, also that Fannie would cause attention, but 
she said nothing of an objectionable nature could come from 
it as the object of my visit was so apparent, and Fannie held 
her place so thoroughly as a servant. Her quiet dressing and 
respectful manner gave at once a dignity to my position. 
“At the dinner were Professor, Mrs. and Miss Pringsheim, 
also Miss Du Bois Raymond. The table was set with autumn 
leaves as decoration. They blended beautifully with the fruit 
on the table. Professor Pringsheim rather showed signs of 
slight displeasure with the decoration. Mrs. Pringsheim re¬ 
sponded that Professor Pringsheim cared only for chlorophyll. 
I replied that I did not like chlorophyll, it was too difficult a 
subject. Professor Pringsheim in his list of botanists of all the 
world (it was a printed volume) had written down my name 
in ink as one of the botanists of Philadelphia. The dear old 
man showed it to me. He has a laboratory of his own, where he 
works when he feels like it. His home is large, and has a garden 
attached. Some figs on the table had grown in it.” 
She also describes interestingly an hour spent with Kny 
in his laboratory at the Agricultural School. “I went to him 
on Thursday, Oct. 13, after my visit to Landolt’s laboratory. 
Kny has a good library attached to his rooms. The ‘ Botanischer 
Jahresbericht’ contains extracts of all the botanical publica¬ 
tions, and Kny said I should send to Dr. E. Koehne (Friedenau 
bei Berlin) my papers for notice. He has, in connection with 
his rooms, a hothouse for the cultivation of the necessary plants 
required for use in teaching. Both Schwendener and Kny are 
principally occupied with the mechanical rule of plant-phy¬ 
siology. Schwendener told me there was just now wanting 
