after winning various distinctions, took his degree of M.A. at the University of London. In 1866 he was appointed Professor of Logic and Philosophy, and Cobden Lecturer in Political Economy at Owens College, Manchester, and in 1876, on being appointed Professor of Political Economy in University College, London, he resigned his appointment at Owens College. This last position he relinquished about a year ago, in order to devote himself more entirely to literature. Of the numerous economical and statistical essays, which date from a period prior to his connection with Owens College, a bare outline only can be given. They embrace "A Treatise on the Value of Gold," "Pure Logic, or the Logic of Quality," "Substitution of Similars the True Principle of Reasoning," "Elementary Lessons in Logic," in 1871 the "Theory of Political Economy," in 1874 the "Principles of Science," and at a later period "Money and the Mechanism of Exchange." Beyond these there were various essays and contributions to the Statistical Society, including his enquiry into the rise of prices caused by the gold discoveries in Australia and California, an enquiry into the extent of the English coalfields, and his investigations into the conditions of our gold currency. The "Principles of Science" and the "Theory of Political Economy" will probably be regarded as his chief works; and, whilst these alone will stamp him as one of our ablest and soundest writers, his name is certain to be as long remembered by the masterly but shorter essays, each of which created immediately a wide-spread interest in the particular subject on which it treated. The remarkable accuracy of his calculations in connection with the gold currency, and their agreement with the results lately obtained by Mr. John B. Martin, were only lately the subject of comment. The name of Professor Jevons will long be remembered by students who find in such works as his "Money and the Mechanism of Exchange" difficult subjects made clear with admirable simplicity of style and language. A great charm in his works is the sense of perfect fairness always present. Although never shrinking from throwing in the weight of his matured judgment on one side of a question, he was equally ready to state the most telling arguments on his opponent's side. There was nothing of the partisan, and it was manifest that his judgment was the result of an exhaustive examination of the question on both sides and from all points of view. The nation has lost in Mr. Jevons, and that too just at a time when he was at the height of his powers and had intended to devote his life to literature, a thinker of a rare order, and one who, when dealing with the complicated questions of the present time, examined them with a calm insight of great power, and discussed them in language which brought them within the comprehension of all. To the Bankers' Institute he was always a staunch friend, and from the very first gave it the benefit of his advice: and even after his retirement from his professional duties he continued to act as an examiner. Singularly modest and retiring in his demeanour, he did not often speak in public, but when he did his words, as in his conversation, always gave some new freshness to the subject, and contained matter for thought. The whole civilized world will regret his untimely end, but those who were thrown into contact with him will alone know how much more he was to them than the economist or philosopher. |