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    2 THE OPINIONS OF JOHN STUART MILL.

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    , , Whe There Ther Is It No Be Name At O...

    are not popular , and we must therefore presume that few women , however desirable for their instruction it may bewill take the trouble

    to wade through eight volumes of political economy , and philosophical writing . We therefore propose to abstract and to extract from his

    works everything winch we think will be useful and interesting to the readers of the _EDSTGiiiss Woman ' s _JouKKAi .

    John Stuart Mill is the son of James Mill , the historian of India , author of a well-known book on the Elements of Political Economy ,

    and other works of very great merit . His son was brought up in intercourse with the most distinguished men of the time , who were

    counted among his father ' s friends ; and he inherited his father's peculiar genius for political and philosophical studies . The name of

    Mill will belong to the son by preference , for he is a greater man than his father .

    The first work which we shall mention will be one which seems to lie the farthest from our subject . A book which has probably not

    been read by many thousand men , and certainly not by many hundred women . The title-page is enough to frighten most female students ;

    but we beg of them to allow us to copy it entire , and to bear with us patiently whilst we try to prove to them with how very profound a

    thinker we have here to deal . They must please to respect it for the reputation it bears . "A System of Logic , _Ratiocinative and

    Inductive , being a connected View of the Principles of Evidence , and the Methods of Scientific Investigation . By John Stuart Mill

    in two volumes . " , This work embodies and systematises the bestideas which have

    been put forth by speculative writers or acted upon , by accurate thinkers in making scientific inqtriries .

    It is not to be read until the student is well acquainted with the elements of logic , some mathematics , and a few such books as Dr .

    Brown's " Cause and Effect . " This book is the most complete treatise upon logic in the English language . To read it properlyand

    , thoroug ties of the hly student to unders . t He and or it , she is quite will an be education continually to try the ing log to ica put l facul his

    or her opinions to the test of Mr . Mill ' s rigorous method . Most women are told that they cannot understand such booksthat they

    have not logical intellects , that they cannot follow consecutive , reasoning , and that such studies are altogether unfeminine . We picture

    to ourselves one such , having perused carefully and with great interest ( for we believe any woman who chooses to apply herself to the study

    can understand everything which Mr . Mill has written ) the . two hundred and four pages on " names and propositions" going on to the

    study of the chapters on reasoning and on induction , , rather anxiously looking out to see if any method will prove her logically incapable

    of understanding what she is about , or any paragraph insinuate that the great master himself holds such an opinion . She feels she

    understands perfectly ; and she reasons logically enough from this instance

    pf . her own consciousness , that other women also can understand it .

    2 The Opinions Of John Stuart Mill.

    2 THE OPINIONS OF JOHN STUART MILL .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/2/