Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  l 
October,  1905.  / 
Helen  Abbott  Michael. 
461 
In  1887  she  received  the  distinction  of  election  to  membership  in 
the  American  Philosophical  Society. 
She  went  abroad  this  year  with  the  intention  of  pursuing  the 
study  of  organic  chemistry  at  Berlin,  but  was  advised  that  the  most 
advanced  student  in  synthetic  organic  chemistry,  as  applied  to  plant 
substances,  was  Prof.  Arthur  Michael,  of  Tufts  College,  Mass.,  who 
had  in  1879  effected  the  first  synthesis  of  the  natural  glucosides 
helicin  and  salicin.  She  therefore  returned  to  this  country  and 
worked  for  a  time  in  the  laboratory  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  in  Boston,  under  Professor  Michael. 
She  was  married  to  Professor  Michael  in  Philadelphia  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1888,  and  again  went  abroad  with  him.  After  a  two  years' 
trip  around  the  world  they  settled  for  a  time  in  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
where,  in  a  private  laboratory,  with  several  assistants,  they  both  re- 
sumed chemical  work.  Mrs.  Michael's  work  done  during  this  period 
was  mostly  published  in  German  chemical  journals. 
Professor  Michael  returned  to  this  country  to  take  the  chair  of 
chemistry  in  the  newly-founded  Clark  University,  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  and  later  removed  to  Boston  and  resumed  his'  connection 
with  Tufts  College. 
Mrs.  Michael,  becoming  interested  in  sociological  work  in  Boston, 
determined  to  again  take  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and  graduated 
in  June,  1 903,  from  Tufts  College  Medical  School  with  a  most  bril- 
liant record.  She  turned  her  home  on  West  Cedar  Street  into  a 
free  hospital,  and  soon  found  the  fullest  scope  for  her  attainments 
and  skill  as  well  as  for  her  philanthropic  sympathies.  This  work 
was  done  without  giving  up  her  interest  in  art  and  literature,  as 
is  shown  by  her  connection  with  different  literary  undertakings  in 
Boston.  After  a  severe  attack  of  the  grip  in  the  spring  of  1904  her 
health  began  to  fail  and  she  finally  succumbed  to  heart  failure, 
passing  away  November  29,  1904. 
Mrs.  Michael  was  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  a  member  of  the  German  Chemical  Society  of  Berlin,  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  and  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute of  Philadelphia. 
The  list  of  her  published  papers,  here  appended,  while  not  com- 
plete, covers  her  contributions  to  chemical  literature. 
