Decembek 18, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



887. 



his only aim, while unassured of a profes- 

 sor's chair or similar appointment, and not 

 as a means of livelihood, was in this coun- 

 try absolutely unknown. With a steadi- 

 ness of purpose singular in so young a man, 

 he pursued diligently the opportunity he 

 had himself created^-a year each at Berlin 

 and Gottingen, and shorter periods at 

 Altona, Gotha, Greenwich and Paris — and 

 returned home, full of early honors and 

 flushed with lofty hopes and honorable am- 

 bitions. 



From this point Dr. Gould's life became 

 one of incessant activity, impressing its 

 mark in many ways upon the intellectual 

 life of the community ; but the line of in- 

 tensest force naturally took the direction of 

 his own beloved science, to which he com- 

 municated an impulse not measured merely 

 by what he accomplished for it by his direct 

 investigations, great as that is, but also by 

 the force which always emanates from so 

 earnest a nature as his. He inspired a 

 new breath into American astronomy. The 

 new atmosphere which he brought with him 

 from Germany, where he had caught the 

 spirit of the great masters under whom he 

 studied, became gradually transfused upon 

 this side the sea. His enthusiasm for the 

 introduction of better means and methods 

 of research was caught by his compatriots, 

 their courage to regenerate our science was 

 sustained, and transmitted through various 

 channels to the next and to the present 

 generation. Thus we may say, without 

 fear of being controverted, that American 

 astronomy to-day is a different thing from 

 what it would have been without Gould's 

 predominant influence, deep and quiet but 

 strong, to upbuild it and to free it from the 

 clumsiness and imperfections which still 

 impede it even in some of the otherwise 

 most enlightened nations of the world. It 

 is under his leadership that American 

 astronomy has climbed to where it looks 

 with steady and level eye upon that of Ger- 



many, which occupies perhaps a larger 

 but not a loftier plain. It is his example 

 which will stimulate it, in its upward 

 course during the new century nearly upon 

 us, to attain first, in the friendly and 

 honorable national rivalry, the heights com- 

 manding all. We cannot presume to say 

 how far the good fortune which has secured 

 our astronomy so exalted a place has been 

 shared by other branches of physical or of 

 natural science in our land; or, if so, 

 whether it can be traced to any similar in- 

 strumentality. But there can be no doubt 

 that, so far as astronomy is concerned, this 

 enviable position has been reached, and 

 that among the personal influences contri- 

 buting to that result Gould's may be justly 

 regarded as preeminent. 



Let us now glance at Dr. Gould's more 

 prominent labors, passing by his earlier im- 

 portant investigations in applied theoretical 

 and in practical astronomy, as well as his 

 numerous and valuable contributions to the 

 literature of science, education and other 

 departments of thought, which we find 

 scattered through the long range of his 

 career. 



In 1852 he was appointed to take charge 

 of the longitude determinations of the Coast 

 Survey. He organized, developed and ex- 

 tended his service, retiring in 1867. Mean- 

 while, in 1855, he became Director of the 

 Dudley Observatory in Albany, equipped 

 and organized the institution, and carried 

 it on without remuneration and at his pri- 

 vate expense. He left it in 1859, after a se- 

 vere struggle to preserve the institution for 

 purposes of scientific investigation. 



In 1859 he published his discussion of the 

 places and proper motions of circumpolar 

 stars, for use as standards in the Coast Sur- 

 vey. These, as revised by him in 1861, to- 

 gether with his similar list of clock stars, 

 were adopted as the standards for the 

 American Ephemeris, and, as to the circum- 

 polars, remain in such use to this day. In 



