BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 115 



separately in different works. Besides the works already mentioned, there is a long cata- 

 logue of communications made to the Boston Society of Natural History ,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 ou him the honors which it has to bestow upon 

 its fellows. In 1855 he delivered the annual address, which was marked for the soundness 

 of its views and the characteristic clearness and elegance with which they were presented 

 He took for his text the advice of Harvey to the Koyal College of Physicians of London 

 when he founded the annual oration which 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 was elected president 

 of the Medical Society, and his term of office ended within a few months of his death. He 

 was for several years one of the physicians of the Massachusetts General Hospital, was an 

 efficient member of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, where he often com- 

 municated valuable observations, and took an active part 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 Sciences, of which he was a mem- 

 ber, he presented an important paper on the distribution of certain diseases, especially 

 consumption, in reference to the hygienic choice of a location for the cure of invalid 

 soldiers. 



As a citizen, Dr. Gould made a principle of going out of the ordinary routine of life to 

 lend a helping hand wherever it was desired, and he could. He served the public in many 

 capacities ; in the religious society of which he was from early life a member, and in the 

 public schools, where he took an active interest in all attempts to improve the ways and 

 means of instruction. He from time to time gave public lectures, and although in this 

 capacity he could not be said to be brilliant or highly accomplished, yet his unostentatious 

 manner and simplicity, his knowledge of his subject and hearty interest in it, always 

 gained him attentive listeners, who went away instructed. 



In his temperament he was genial, and drew friends around him, retaining the old and 

 attracting the new. He came to the social gathering with joyous face and kindly feelings. 

 His love for natural scenery was genuine and hearty, and whatever personal enjoyment 

 came from this source, it was always enhanced if others partook of it with him. There 

 are too many naturalists who stand in the presence of nature all their days, but see her 

 not. To them the world offers nothing but the forms they would technically describe and 

 arrange in their cabinets. Take away this object and all becomes a waste, for they are 

 neither warmed nor enlivened by the world around them. Not so with our associate ; no 

 one toiled more industriously than he over individual forms and specific descriptions ; but 

 all this aside, every aspect of nature touched him to the innermost. Those who have 

 been intimate with him know how his face would light up while in the presence of the 

 least as well as of the greatest natural objects ! the flower of a day, or the sturdy tree 



