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 and 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 
