138 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
collaboration with Agassiz, published a text-book for schools 
on the principles of zodlogy. He also edited the unfinished 
work of his friend, Dr. Amos Binney, on the terrestrial air- 
breathing mollusks of the United States. 
Dr. Gould made his greatest contribution to natural history 
by the work done on the collection made by Captain James P. 
Couthouy, U.S. N., when attached to the United States Explor- 
ing Expedition. As all the notes were lost, and various restric- 
tions were made as to the manner of doing the work, the task was 
a perplexing one. 
Besides his papers on natural history, which number more 
than 100, he also published medical addresses and reports, 
which were of great value to his profession. He was President 
of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and for several years 
consulting physician of the Massachusetts General Hospital. 
The church to which he belonged, and the public schools were 
benefited by his labors. Untiring in his work he was still hoping 
to attain better results as a physician and naturalist, when he was 
suddenly attacked by cholera, and died on September 15, 1866. 
(From WyMaAn and DaLtt, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy 
of Sciences, vol. 5, 1905, pp. 91-113.) 
BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD 
Born, September 27, 1824; died, November 26, 1896 
The life of Benjamin Apthorp Gould was intimately con- 
nected with the city of Boston. Born there on September 27, 
1824, he received his early education from his father, a teacher 
of acknowledged merit, and entered Harvard College in 1844. 
For a short time after graduation, he was head-master of the 
Roxbury Latin School. Though early in his college course he 
showed a fondness for the classics, the later years were devoted 
largely to mathematics, and he thus laid the foundation for his 
future work. 
In 1845 Gould went to Europe, and spent three years in 
astronomical study at Berlin, Paris, Géttingen and other cities. 
He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the 
