Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

Gertrude Franklin Atherton (1857-1948), American biographer, historian, and author of the controversial best-seller Black Oxen (1923);
Written when Atherton was 65 years old, the novel's mixture of science and romance was controversial but extremely popular upon publication. A story of infatuation and obsession with beauty, it is based on Atherton's personal experience with the Steinach Treatment, x-rays used to regenerate the reproductive organs. Like so many in their search for the Fountain of Youth, (William Butler Yeats also had this treatment) she wanted rejuvenation, a fresh energy to begin a new novel. The title for the novel was inspired by a line from William Butler Yeats' play The Countess Cathleen;