BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
57 
were not admitted, “because there were no places for them 
in the professions, and it never seemed to occur to the director 
that they might wish to study for the study’s sake.” 
Professor Walter Hempel, who had married an American 
wife and spoke English, received her “with the greatest 
kindness,” and made an appointment with her to visit the 
laboratories, where he afterwards showed her many inter¬ 
esting pieces of apparatus which he had invented, particu¬ 
larly for his specialty of gas investigation. She says: — 
“The atmosphere for study was most promising, and I 
was very much delighted with all I saw. Hempel impressed 
me as a very able man, and one whose methods of gas-analysis 
were both simple and good. . . . Hempel went over each 
room describing to me the methods and uses of his apparatus. 
Nothing could be more charming than his manner, and he 
is one of the exceptionally pleasant chemists I have yet met. 
It seems to be a sad fact that the farther removed the man 
is from the study of life, just so far is his nature blunt. The 
botanists have been by far the most agreeable and willing to 
aid me. My visit to this laboratory is one of the bright days 
of this journey.” 
Dr. Hempel gave her an introduction to his colleague, Drude, 
and she was most enthusiastic over his kindness to her. She 
thus describes it: — 
“What can I begin to say of my visit to Drude! For he 
treated me like a prince. When I called at his home, I found 
the number, an old two-story long building, up one flight of 
stairs. I was shown into a very pleasant room. The servant 
made the mistake of taking my cards to Mrs. Drude. She 
is a bright-faced woman and, though she kept me waiting 
to change her dress, she welcomed me heartily. I explained 
my reason for calling, and then she went for her husband 
who soon came. He is associated with Prantl and Engler 
in bringing out the botanical encyclopedia. He is still quite 
young and enthusiastic over his work. He has made a special 
study of palms . . . and has given also much attention to 
the geographical distribution of plants, and showed me a map 
of the world which was divided into floras of a few districts, 
