Excerpt from Benjamin Apthorp Gould

Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Ph. D., LL.D., was born in Boston, September 27, 1824. His father, for many years a teacher there, is remembered to this day in consequence of his faithful work, as well as through literary contributions of a professional character. Hannah Flagg Gould, the well-known poetess, was his father's sister. Of the poems of his aunt. Dr. Gould said: "They are characterized by a cheerful, frolicsome spirit, and earnest piety." These words, true of the poems, are also strikingly appropriate in descriptive application to the Gould of his later years, whom many of us knew, incomplete and merely suggestive as a description, it is true, sufficient however in themselves to call to our minds the brilliant conversationalist, who was ever ready to enliven his talk with a merry jest, but whose profound religious convictions could not fail to impress themselves upon all whom he met. Would we add to the features of the companion thus disclosed, the elements which made the many we can turn again to his own writings and from the pages devoted to a sketch of his friend Rutherford, quote the chief mental characteristics which impressed the eulogist. They were, "clearness of comprehension, independence of judgment, and unselfishness of purpose." What Gould specially admired in Rutherford was eminently characteristic of himself.

Dr. Gould entered Harvard College, and was graduated there in 1844. We have the assurance of one of his classmates that he did not in the earlier part of his collegiate course display any especial predilection for mathematics.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.