i8 
HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
for use at some special time or season, and frequently these 
would be the text on which we discoursed, ranging from these 
to wider and more spontaneous themes. Wilhelm von Hum¬ 
boldt furnished many passages which were stimulating and 
enjoyable. George Sand was another of our favorite writers, 
and “ Indiana, ” which so beautifully portrays human devo¬ 
tion, we found well worth reading more than once. 
Dr. Brinton used to say that writers from whom he could 
derive no thought leading to the higher life were valueless to 
him. Balzac contained no message for him. 
The autobiography ends abruptly, and requires a little sup¬ 
plementary filling in. 
In 1883-84, Miss Abbott acted as assistant in the chemical 
laboratory of the Philadelphia Polyclinic, and published her 
first scientific paper under the title, “Some Observations on 
the Nutritive Value of Condiments.” 
Her paper on the analysis of the bark of the Fouquieria 
splendens was published in the Proceedings of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science and in the “ Amer¬ 
ican Journal of Pharmacy.” Her studies into the chemistry of 
drugs attracted the attention of the trustees of the College of 
Pharmacy, and they not only asked her to lecture before the stu¬ 
dents, — the first time that a woman had ever been thus hon¬ 
ored, — but went so far as to expend the sum of five thousand 
dollars in purchasing some small houses at the rear of the college 
building adjoining the main laboratory and fitting up a portion 
of the space thus acquired as a research laboratory for the use 
of such women as wished to go into higher work. Miss Abbott 
had here her own special apparatus, which she imported from 
abroad, and the trustees furnished her with all facilities neces¬ 
sary to carry out the line of her investigations. 
Dr. William Thomson, the eminent oculist of Philadelphia, 
to whose stimulus Miss Abbott was indebted for much of her 
success in scientific work, did not approve of her digressions 
into the field of art and literature, and urged her not to dissi¬ 
pate her energies, but concentrate them on her chemical labors. 
In reference to this she says, in one of her “Scientific Notes:” 
