BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
The arc of Helen Abbott Michael’s life swept through several 
fields of human activity, in each of which she showed remark¬ 
able ability and achieved unusual success. Versatility, how¬ 
ever brilliant, is often a dangerous gift, leading to a scattering 
of energies and to practical failure; but she had great power 
of concentration, and realized, as few have, the necessity of 
systematic application. She was not led by her manifold tal¬ 
ents into desultory or spasmodic expenditure of energy, but 
having deliberately chosen a path which seemed to offer her 
opportunities of usefulness, she was not content to abandon 
it until she had followed it to a profitable ending. Nor, even 
after she had proceeded to another department of work, did 
she lose her interest in that from which she had passed. She 
assimilated all that was best in every branch of knowledge 
that she took up, and her symmetrically developed character 
proved that her attainments were not made for selfish ends. 
Her altruism was ever apparent. 
Certain marked qualities of hers deserve commemoration. 
Lovely in person, graceful in figure, she preserved a charming 
simplicity and modesty. She was wholly lacking in self-con¬ 
sciousness. Her association with men of science and her own 
keen zest in subjects of scientific import gave to her conversa¬ 
tion a note of deep seriousness; but she had a natural play of 
wit, and she was quick to see the ludicrous aspect of any ques¬ 
tion. Broad and liberal in her ideas, she displayed a genuine 
sympathy with all phases of thought, scientific and religious. 
She had made a special study of the plastic arts, and her diaries 
are full of brief and always pointed criticisms and appreciations 
of the paintings, sculptures, and beautiful buildings that she 
studied, even while making her specialty of chemical or medical 
investigations. 
