New-York tribune., 1886-05-23
A LABORIOUS LIFE.
TIE CAREER OF PROFESSOR JEyoys

alc NE OF the distinguished economist and log.
clan commemora'ed IN this sub,tlntia yonm,
could offer no very attractive material oyen for ths
most alectionate bioTapher. Mr. Jeyons na..sa
through no adventures; his Travels were generarv
in beaten paths; his habits we're stldions and "a.
tring; his friends included few Of tho cclebrltIs.
whom people like to hear about: and bis letter.
cxccllont as they are in -one respects haze ca,'
tany great literary charm Yet in sptaa
these drawbacks Urs. Jeryons hasmade an in tore,s
ing book. She exhibits simple, straightforward
manly and modest character or rather shs allows
him TO disclose himself through his domestic corr.
spondence and his frank and sensible Journal Hs
was at once shy and genial in mis- attach
mcnts and strangely dinidcnt of his power of IN.
spring friendship, bold in maintaining his opinion,
and apt to undcrrate his own power' 100 much in.
clIned TO shut himself mp wIsh his books ana
greatly beloved by his colleagues Hchad stroas
influence for good over his students bas
was quito unconscious of 1t. "rhcre were men !,
my year at college, wrote Of them
who would have thought it Heaven to se,u
him. "To me and to many Others" said anoihr
Professor Jeyons was the embodiment OF IL th.t
was high and Just" This IS the portrait Of ma,
to be loved and admired His cagc =, lnoreovss
illustrates the virtues OF perseverance. s0briety
and selfreIiancc, an ambition always directed "a.
ward respectable OBJECTS and satisfied with mod.
crate rewards. thorou9hness and enthusiasm in
hard work and IndomitabIe pa tience and self-ren.
ance lie remarks in one Of his letters that he DIS
tinctly remembers thinking, when ne vas a youna
man. that the one thing he would best ike 70 10
was " n recognized statistical writer" THIS not
very intoxicating dream came trne b. The time 40
was thirty. when his treatise on " The Coal Ques
tiOnD shOwingthe almost certain exhaustion % ths
English coal fields within time 50 short ,lgta
ceniury at most must wicncss vas change in the
industries OF the nation, aroused general attention,
was discussed in Parliament. and was taken BY
Mr. Gladstone as powerful argument FOR a change
of policy with respect to the National debt. A ref
erence in his journal to this incident is hghIy
characteristic hat is this poor mind
of mine with all ITS waverIng hopes
and fears that its thoughts should A
quoted and approved By great phiio7opier IN the
Parliament OF 50 great a Nation' Do not grant mo
intellectual power, o God. nnlesS it be joined 70
love of Thee and Thy works, and to an ever present
love OF Others
William Stanley Jevons was born a. Liverpool in
1885. His father was an iron merchant. at Ons
time prosperous, though ne failed while stanley
was n boy. His mother was 4 daughter of he his
torian Roscoe He was educated at University
College, London where he gavea great deal Of at-
tention TO chemistry and othcr branches Of applied
science. with the expectation Of becoming manu-
facturer but at the age Of nineteen he received al
appointment as assaver to the mint ut sydney and
this changed his whole course of life. w have N
interesting account of the opening of his n"westab-
llshmcnt the furnace and laboratory being set mp
in n tw0-room cottage, which also served - resi-
dcnce for himself and servant He spent tive
years in Australia and then feeling that he could
afford no more Of his youth u pursuit in which he
IT, Lam
by way of Chih, Panama Cuba and the
United States. He had some yagIc hope Of sup
porting himself by literary work in London,
but lie found that his writing, whca hal been
welcomed (bUt not paid FOR b. the sydney news
paDors. was less valued in Engiqn1, and he re-
luctantly came TO the conclusion that h had not
popular STYLE. "ln writing a couple Of ar'ices foe
Tbo V1ecfq'orr he saws. "and an essay, get on so
slowly, painfully and heavily rhat alno'i distrust
my former confidence" lie collected a great mass
of materials for history Of Inc volunteer move
ment, in which he deeply Interested but found,
or believed that he lacked the skill to 9ut tenn to-
gsther, and the book was never written. An
appointment "a Instructor at Owens College.
Manchester soon gave him decent support, and
few years later he was promoted TO he professor
ship of logic and political economy in thc same
institution which he held forten years, exchanging
it finally for a similar post a. University College,
London lie was drowned, bathing. in lS>2. He
was not yet forty-seven years If age, but he was
nearly broken down by overwork and had been
obliged to resign most of his appointments.
This is not the place to review the contr.butiolsof
Professor Jev0ns to mental and economical Science.
Even the earliest Of them were Striking and
ingenious, and some OF his methods were highly
original. His first important pubIeltion was
series of Iii lgrlms intended to EXHIBIT in the form
of a Statistical Atlas" skable quantity Of
nrormation about tho population. revenue. trade.
products etc, of the kingdom for over century.
This was not completed. bat some Of the diaFams
relating to the Bank, the funds, prices and bank-
lnpcles were issued separately. He believed th!s
these figures, exhibited graphically oy curves and
lines. threw great light upon the peuodicty of
commercial storms, and the sures, 'lgn OF an ap-
preaching panic be found IN the curve of bricks
produce,l.7 panics being generally caused by
large Investment Of labor in works not Immediately
profitable Of which bricks AID mortar are tho
typical expression. In the latter part OF his life 40
took immense pains with tho development OF q
theory of the connection of commercial pallcS WIN
sun-spots. lie traced the periods OF trade de-
nresslon back to 1901. and found that the average
interval up to lS77 about ten years and thlee-
tenths the sun-spot pecOl IS yArously cstInatci,
but Is nearly the same, probably between ten ana
n quarter and ten and halt. lie was
4 vehement opponent of j. 5. MilPS system
of logic, and in general supporter of Che theory
of Professor Boole which h. maintained, however.
was hampered by its mathematical dress In hn
small book on Pure Logic he undertook to show
that all and more than all, the ordluary no-
cesses of logic may be combined III a system
founded Oh comparison OF quality only, without
reference to logical quantity his principles
were more fully expounded in several !at'r WORKS
II is significant of the turn of his mind that no
WAS AT the labor and xpcnse OF constructing. iof
purposes of demonstration rather than Tor prIc-
tical use, logical machine" with keys Ike
piano. upon which one could work oil II Il few mo-
ments any logical problem involving no more th@a
four distinct terms. This curious 10Y Is described
in his Principles OF Science" In his " Theory OK