Academy or Sciences.] BIOGRAPHY. 161 



of its traditions. The local repute of "Cloverden" with its classic accessories and baccha- 

 nalian revels is not unduly travestied in the phrase, Gemuthlichkeit established on Plymouth 

 Eock. The Bohemian quality of the den seems, to a generation two degrees further removed 

 from puritanism, not to have exceeded the limits suggested by its literary offspring, the well 

 known ballad of the "One Fish Ball." 



The closing months of 1859 brought to Gould a great blow, that for some years forced him 

 to withdraw, in considerable measure, from scientific work. His father died, leaving a mercan- 

 tile business in such precarious condition that the son was forced to take immediate charge 

 of it in order to ward off serious loss or even bankruptcy. One notes as a singular coincidence 

 that almost simultaneously the English astronomer, Carrington, whose predilections and work 

 bore a marked resemblance to those of Gould, was similarly summoned by a father's death to 

 commercial pursuits which practically closed a highly promising scientific career. Not until 

 1864 did Gould extricate himself from a business engagement, which, though forced upon him, 

 was assumed and prosecuted with a vigor and success characteristic of his versatile energy. 



But during these years astronomical work was by no means abandoned. When the war in 

 1861 forced suspension of the Astronomical Journal, it opened to Gould a new line of effort. 

 Maury, Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, a southerner by birth, aban- 

 doned his post and hastened to join in rebellion the forces of his native State. Behind him 

 were left in deplorable condition the unreduced records of observations covering a considerable 

 term of years. The last published observatory volume bore date 1859, but extended only to 

 observations made in 1850. Capt. Gilliss, whose- earlier cooperation with Gould has been noted 

 above, took charge of the observatory after Maury's flight and, despairing of bringing up its 

 arrears of work with the means at his disposal, he caused the fugitive records and papers to 

 be collated, copied, and turned over to Gould for discussion, much as he had done with the 

 records of his own Chilean expedition. The contract for this work was executed on October 

 9, 1861, and in the notice prefixed to the observatory volume bearing the imprint 1863, Gilliss 

 notes that "All unpublished astronomical observations made prior to 1861, except the Zones, 

 are ready for the press." The Zones could not be rendered useful to astronomy without further 

 observations. With due respect to those other current obligations which were unquestionably 

 discharged, Gould's hours and hands must have been strenuously employed in the early sixties. 



Among those other obligations is one of peculiar interest and importance in Gould's life. In 

 1861 he married Mary Apthorp Quincy, daughter of Hon. Josiah Quincy, of Boston, a brilliant 

 and noble woman of rare attainments whose intelligent sympathy with, and collaboration in, 

 his purposes were a great factor in his subsequent career. The first outward manifestation of 

 this factor in his professional activity was the erection, through her aid, of a private observatory 

 near Cambridge, equipped with a large meridian instrument which was employed by Gould for 

 some years, 1864-1867, in observing the positions of stars near the north celestial pole. But 

 this contribution proved to be only the beginning of her long continued sympathy, stimulus, 

 and aid, whose fruition is commemorated in the words prefixed by Gould two decades later to 

 his Cordoba Zone Catalogue, "This catalogue of southern stars, the fruit of nearly 13 years of 

 assiduous toil, is dedicated to the beloved and honored memory of Mary Apthorp Quincy Gould, 

 to whose approval and unselfish encouragement the original undertaking was due, by whose 

 sympathy, self-sacrifice, and practical assistance its execution was made possible, who bravely 

 endured privation, exile, and afflictive bereavement that it might be worthily finished, but who 

 has not seen its completion." What a pity that this tribute could not have been rendered 

 within her lifetime. 



Another interest embedded in those days of commercial activity must not be omitted. 

 On March 3, 1863, President Lincoln approved an act to incorporate the National Academy of 

 Sciences, naming B. A. Gould of Massachusetts as one of the 50 incorporators chosen as repre- 

 sentative of American science. Tradition asserts that Gould was active in securing establish- 

 ment of the academy. He certainly became active in its affairs from the very beginning of 

 its corporate life. In January, 1864, at the first scientific session held by the academy he pre- 

 sented to it for publication an extensive and important paper entitled " Reduction of the Ob- 



