December 18, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



889 



of the southern sky. For this, indeed, he 

 had provided the instrumental means and 

 trained the assistants, it being his purpose 

 to be ready to begin it at any time in case 

 of unforeseen delay or accident to the other 

 work. On leaving Cordoba he confined it 

 to the care of Dr. Thome and Mr. Tucker, 

 who have since so worthily conducted it. 



Dr. Gould also established, under the 

 auspices of the Argentine government, a 

 meteorological service, second in extent, it 

 is believed, only to that of the United States. 

 Upon leaving South America he intrusted 

 this charge to the hands of his worthy suc- 

 cessor, Walter G. Davis. 



The earliest to recognize and demonstrate 

 the capabilities of photography to render 

 service to the astronomy of precision. Dr. 

 Gould, by his experience with the Ruther- 

 furd plates of the Pleiades and the Prcesepe, 

 was incited to arrange to carry forward at 

 Cordoba, on an extensive scale, a similar 

 work upon the southern stellar clusters. 

 His other labors there were so onerous that 

 he confined his attention to securing plates 

 suitable for precise measurement. Of these 

 he accumulated about 1,400, and brought 

 them home with him for measurement and 

 reduction. "Without permitting himself a 

 well-earned retirement, he turned at once, 

 tirelessly, to this labor, which has been the 

 principal occupation of the last ten years of 

 his life. This is substantially complete, and 

 will be given to the world as it came from 

 his hand. 



Dr. Gould had an enthusiasm for the ad- 

 vancement of his beloved science far wider 

 than the limits of what he could by per- 

 sonal investigation accomplish. Early in 

 his career he keenly realized that astron- 

 omy had reached a stage of development 

 in America which entitled it to a higher 

 claim than had yet been accorded to it, and 

 that a journal worthily supporting the dig- 

 nity of a pure science would have very great 

 influence upon its future progress. Accord- 



ingly, without ostentation, he established 

 the Astronomical Journal in November, 1849, 

 offering it to the use of astronomers, for the 

 publication exclusively of original investi- 

 gations. He edited and supported it until, 

 at the end of the sixth volume, in 1861, its 

 issue was suspended, first by the war for 

 the preservation of the Union, afterward by 

 his absence in Cordoba. A long nurtured 

 hope was realized when he was enabled, in 

 1885, to resume its publication and to con- 

 tinue it, at the rate of nearly one volume 

 annually, to the present time. Of all the 

 great enterprises of his life, this is the one 

 which he has most cherished. With care- 

 ful forethought, he has made due provision 

 for its continuance. 



Dr. Gould was born in Boston, September 

 27, 1824. He entered the Boston Latin 

 School in 1836, and graduated from Har- 

 vard College, with high distinction in clas- 

 sical as well as in mathematical and physi- 

 cal studies, in 1844. 



He married, in 1861, Mary Apthorp 

 Quincy, daughter of the Hon. Josiah 

 Quincy. She died in 1883. Her sympathy 

 with and influence upon his life-work may 

 be most reverently spoken of by recalling 

 the lines of his dedication of the Zone Cata- 

 logue : 



"This Catalogue of Southern Stars, the 

 fruit of nearly thirteen years of assiduous 

 toil, is dedicated to the beloved and honored 

 memory of Mary Apthorp Quincy Gould, 

 to whose approval and unselfish encourage- 

 ment the original undertaking was due, by 

 whose sympathy, self-sacrifice and practi- 

 cal assistance its execution was made possi- 

 ble, who bravely endured privation, exile 

 and afflictive bereavement that it might be 

 worthily finished, but who has not seen its 

 completion." 



Dr. Gould received the degree of Ph.D. 

 from Gottingen in 1848, and that of LL.D. 

 from Harvard in 1885, and from Columbia 

 in 1887. During his illustrious career he 



