Born in
New Ipswich, New Hampshire, he was the son of music teacher Nathaniel Duren Gould (1781–1864) who was also noted for his penmanship.
Physician He graduated from
Harvard College in 1825, and took his degree of doctor of medicine in 1830. "Establishing himself in
Boston, he devoted himself to the practice of medicine, and finally rose to high professional rank and social position. He became president of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, and was employed in editing the
vital statistics of the state." In 1855 he delivered the annual address at the
Massachusetts Medical Society, entitled "Search Out the Secrets of Nature." He was its president from 1864 until his death. In 1856, he was appointed visiting physician to the
Massachusetts General Hospital.
Naturalist "As a
conchologist his reputation was worldwide, and he was one of the pioneers of the science in America. His writings fill many pages of the publications of the
Boston Society of Natural History (see vol. xi. p. 197 for a list) and other periodicals. He published with
Louis Agassiz the
Principles of Zoology (2nd ed. 1851)." He taught
botany and
zoology at Harvard for two years. When
Charles Lyell visited the United States in order to pursue his
geological investigations, he immediately sought the aid of Gould as a co-worker. "Gould edited
The terrestrial air-breathing mollusks of the United States, and the adjacent territories of North America –
Volume 1 (1851–1855) of
Amos Binney (1803–1847). He translated
Lamarck's
Genera of Shells (1833)." "The two most important monuments to his scientific work, however, are
Mollusca and Shells (vol. xii, 1852) of the
United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 under
Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, published by the government, and the
Report on the Invertebrata published by order of the legislature of
Massachusetts in 1841. A second edition of the latter work was authorized in 1865, and published in 1870 after the author's death. In 1860, Gould also reported on shells collected by the
North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition." "Gould was a corresponding member of all the prominent American scientific societies, and of many of those of Europe, including the London
Royal Society." He died in Boston on September 15, 1866, and was buried at
Mount Auburn Cemetery. ==Notes==