8 
HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
even as a fragment it is worthy of insertion in this place. A few 
verbal changes, never in any way affecting the sense, have been 
made here and there. Also a few paragraphs have been omit¬ 
ted. She entitled it: — 
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF TEN YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC 
LIFE 
On my return from Europe, early in the eighties, after six years 
spent in the study of music there and in America, I began my 
education. My first introduction to scientific thought was 
Helmholtz’s great work on Optics. This book I had purchased 
at one of the second-hand bookstalls on the quais along the 
Seine in one of the old quarters of Paris. This book was trea¬ 
sured and brought with me back to America. I may note that 
when I was only eight years old, I found a small book of hu¬ 
man anatomy belonging to my brother at home. 
My governess, a highly instructed, conscientious Catholic, 
saw me reading this book and studying the plates representing 
the human skeleton. She remonstrated with me for my inter¬ 
est in the subject, and said that Catholic teaching did not favor 
such studies for youth. There never had been, as far as I know, 
any one in my family who had been devoted to a scientific life, 
although my father’s father had shown an interest in botany, 
and at one time followed in New Jersey the calling of phar¬ 
macist. 
My father was of an active, inquiring mind, but he had 
never devoted himself to any special scientific studies. I had 
been told that some generations back ancestors on my mother’s 
side had been scholars, graduates from foreign universities, 
but I always inferred that their interest ran more in literary 
lines. 
A first cousin on my father’s side is known as a veritable 
Nimrod among the scientific collectors of the day. This is 
Dr. William Louis Abbott, whose marvelous collections of 
animals, skins, birds, plants, and ethnological specimens 
fill or contribute to fill some of the leading museums of our 
country. I think this is all that I need to say about the scien¬ 
tific tendencies in the family. 
