296 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



hopefulness inspii-ed him. Men are still born either Platonists or 

 Aristotelians ; but by their education through a more and more free 

 and enlightened discussion, and by progress in the sciences, they are 

 restrained more and more from going to extremes in the directions 

 of their native biases. 



In JMill's Examination of Hamilton, and in his last great work, the 

 annotated edition of his father's " Analysis of the Phenomena of the 

 Human Mind," many valuable subsidiary contributions are made to 

 the sciences of logic and psychology. But in all his writings on these 

 subjects his attention was directed to their bearings on the traditional 

 problems and discussions of general philosophy. The modern develop- 

 ments of psychology, as a branch of experimental science, and in con- 

 nection with physiology, deeply interested him ; but they did not engage 

 him in their pursuit, although they promise much towards the solution 

 of unsettled questions. His mental powers were trained for a different 

 though equally important service to science, — the service of clear and 

 distinct thought, the understanding, first of all, of that for which closer 

 observation and the aid of experiment are needed ; the precise compre- 

 hension and pertinent putting of questions. The progress of science 

 has not yet outgrown the need of guidance by the intellectual arts of 

 logic and method, which are still equal in importance to those of ex- 

 periment. The imagination of the scientific inquisitor of nature, the 

 fertility of his invention, his ability to frame hypotheses or put perti- 

 nent questions, though still generally dependent on his good-sense, and 

 his practical training in experimental science, are susceptible still of 

 furtherance and improvement by the abstract studies of logic and 

 method. Open questions on the psychological conditions of vision 

 are to be settled. Mill thought, only when some one so unfortunate 

 as to be born blind is fortunate enough to be born a philosopher. 



Mill has been aptly compared to Locke. Their jihilosojjhies were 

 fundamentally the same. Both were " philosophical radicals " and 

 political reformers. " What Locke was to the liberal movements of 

 the seventeenth century, Mr. Mill has more than been to the liberal 

 movement of the nineteenth century." He was born on the 20th of 

 May, 180C, and died on the 8th of May of the current year, having 

 nearly reached the age of sixty -seven. Previous to the brief illness from 

 which he died, he retained unimpaired his mental vigor and industry ; 

 and though it may not be said that he lived to see the hoi^es of his 

 youth fully realized, yet his efforts have met with a degree of success 

 which he did not in later years anticipate. His followers are still few both 

 in politics and in philosophy. So far was he from restoring the doctrines 



