190 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1853. measles, died before Christmas. I had feared the termi- 

 Death of nation of the great weakness and delicacy which I had 

 daughter, vainly tried to prevent. Her father did not realise the 



degree of illness till the end was near, and the blow fell 

 heavily upon him. He was not then so used to death and 

 sorrow as we afterwards became, and his want of sight 

 and natural hopefulness of disposition made him unaware 

 of the degree of danger in this and in other cases. This 

 hopefulness left him after repeated sorrows. He always 

 dwelt on the belief that those whom God loves are the 

 early taken, but after we lost Alice his cheerfulness 

 diminished, and I do not think he ever laughed so heartily, 

 or was heard whistling and singing merry snatches of 

 songs as he used to do when all our children were with 

 us. I cannot write of these events. A few references to 

 them will be found in his letters. 



1854. The next year passed with scarcely any incident 

 worthy of recording. After our loss my husband re- 

 mained very much at home, seeing scarcely any one but his 

 fellow-Professors in his daily visits to University College. 



An application was made to him to examine and give 

 certificates in the City of London School, but this he de- 

 clined on grounds connected with the methods and subjects 

 of examination. 



In July he gave a lecture to the Society of Arts on a 

 kindred subject, namely, On the Relation of Logic and 

 Mathematics to other Branches of Science. This lecture, 

 which was rich in argument and illustration, was only 

 reported in abstract in the Society's Journal. One of its 

 strongest positions was the insufficiency of Mathematics 

 as a mental discipline for inducing logical habits of 

 thought, unless in conjunction with some amount of 

 direct Logical teaching. 



1855. 



Mr. Sheep- j n ^ ne au tumn of 1855 our dear old friend Mr. 



shanks s 



de.ath Sheepshanks died at Reading. For the last few years 



