THE INCORPORATORS 1 37 



sun. In 1 86 1 he was placed in charge of the U. S. Naval Observ- 

 atory, in which office he remained until his death in 1865. 



(From B. A. Gould, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. I, 1877, pp. I35-I79-) 



AUGUSTUS ADDISON GOULD 

 Born, April 23, 1805; died, September 15, 1866 



Dr. Gould was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, April 

 23, 1805. His father was a teacher of music and a skilful 

 engraver, but turned his hand to many things, among which was 

 the management of a small farm on which he lived. From 18 17 

 to 1820 he was a member of the State Legislature. The care of 

 the little farm among the hills demanded the help of his son 

 Augustus, who at 15 years of age took entire charge of it. 

 Having a desire to obtain more education than he had received 

 at the common school, young Gould by great industry suc- 

 ceeded in gaining the preparation for entering Harvard College, 

 which he did in 1821. During his whole course he maintained 

 himself by hard work and in strict economy. He studied 

 medicine in Boston, and after spending one year as resident 

 student in the Massachusetts General Hospital, received his 

 doctor's degree in 1830. He was still obliged to perform many 

 hard tasks to gain the means of support, and among these we find 

 mention of cataloguing and classifying 50,000 pamphlets in the 

 Boston Athenaeum Library. Natural history was always his 

 favorite study, and he became a member of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History soon after its formation, and labored after- 

 wards for it until his death, rising at four o'clock in the morning 

 and working on the collections before his professionial duties 

 began. His first collections were of insects, but afterwards he 

 turned his attention to mollusks. He prepared a volume of 

 nearly 400 pages, on invertebrate animals of Massachusetts, 

 illustrated by more than 200 drawings which he made with his 

 own hand from nature. This attracted much attention from 

 naturalists both at home and in Europe, and received special 

 commendation from the elder Agassiz. In 1848, Dr. Gould, in 



