1867.] 195 [Annual Report. 



tioned, there is a long catalogue of communications made to 

 the Boston Society of Natural History, and which is ap- 

 pended to this notice, which may be referred to as showing 

 that he did not allow himself to become a mere specialist, 

 but kept his mind awake to the relation of individual forms 

 to higher and more general truths. 



We must not forget that Dr. Gould was a member of the 

 medical profession, and that his time was of necessity chiefly 

 devoted to this, while the scientific labors we have been 

 considering were the yield of spare moments made useful. 

 He was an active member of the medical societies of this 

 city and of the State, and held offices of trust in them. 

 The Massachusetts Medical Society conferred on him the 

 honors wliich it has to bestow upon its fellows. In 185.5 he 

 delivered the annual address, Avhich was marked for the 

 soundness of its views and the characteristic clearness and 

 elegance with which they Avere presented. He took for his 

 text the advice of Harvey to the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London, when he founded the annual oration whicn bears 

 his name, and in which, among other things, he enjoins upon 

 the orator " an exhortation to the members to study and 

 search out the secrets of nature by the way of experiment." 

 Dr. Gould Avas elected president of the Society, and his 

 tei'm of office ended Avithin a fcAV months of his death. He 

 was for several years one of the physicians of the Massachu- 

 setts General Hospital, Avas an efficient member of the Bos- 

 ton Society for Medical Improvement, where he often com- 

 municated valuable observations, and took an actlA^e jiart in 

 its discussions. He labored much and long in preparing 

 the vital statistics of the State from the official returns. 



At one of the meetings of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences, of Avhich he was a member, he presented an impoi'- 

 tant paper on the distribution of certain diseases, especially 

 consumption, in reference to the hygienic choice of a loca- 

 tion for the cure of invalid soldiers. The census of 1860 giiA'e 

 the means of arriving at a definite result, and of shoAving that 

 the mortality from the disease mentioned Avas greatest in the 

 north, and diminished southwards almost as regularly as the 

 States could be called. It causes about twenty-nine per cent. 



