HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 
favor by the Emperor, who had grown very pious in his old 
age, and that consequently the professors were wary about 
promulgating it. Even the great Haeckel had been pretty 
severely handled on account of his advanced ideas, and would 
probably have been called to Berlin had it not been for his 
outspoken defense of evolution. 
She found time for a hasty trip to the city museum, and was 
fortunate enough to meet the art-director, with whom she 
had a pleasant talk. 
She left Weimar on the morning of the 23d, but for an hour 
before the train started, she strolled through the old town, pass¬ 
ing by Herder’s house, which she found larger and more pleasing 
in appearance than the one which she the day before had sup¬ 
posed to be his. Hearing the strains of music, she hastened 
down to an old street with tumble-down houses in it, and was 
surprised to find a band of about fifty brass pieces playing 
the Brünhilde “Sleep Theme” from The Walkyrie , and she 
thought how in America such a concert would have brought 
two or three dollars. It was Sunday morning, and she noted 
the children going to Sunday-school or church “two by 
twos.” 
She found the slow, deliberate ride from Weimar to Würz¬ 
burg very beautiful, as it passed through the Thuringian 
Mountains, clothed in autumn coloring, and here and there 
guarded by old ruined castles. 
At Würzburg she presented a letter to the famous Emil 
Fischer, a young man, with brown beard and hair, and bright 
eyes. He at once received her and conducted her over the 
laboratory, and through the students’ rooms, which she 
found “much more homelike and suggestive of comfort than 
in the larger laboratories.” Dr. Fischer showed her many 
of his preparations, particularly the substance from which 
he had synthetically formed glucose. She says: — 
“Synthetical chemistry is the specialty of the institute, 
and it reigns in supreme power. I put the usual question to 
Professor Fischer,— if he would allow a lady-student to study 
in his laboratory. He stated that it was not permitted, but he 
promised to write and let me know. He is very agreeable, 
