Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/765

Rh However, be the proper substitute for party what it may, the thing here insisted on is that party is evidently in a state of decadence; that the causes of its decadence are not accidental or temporary, but inherent in its nature, which is that of an instrument of change, not that of a permanent principle of government; and that, consequently, sooner or later some other basis for government must be found. "You are sanguine," say objectors, "if you think you can carry on constitutional government without party." We trust not; for, if it is so, the end of constitutional government is at hand. The decline of party may fairly be said to present an urgent question: for the political observer to-day—to-morrow for the statesman.—Macmillan's Magazine.

 

ILLIAM STANLEY JEVONS was born at Liverpool, in the year 1835. His father, Thomas Jevons, was an iron-merchant in that city; his mother was a daughter of William Roscoe, the well-known historian. She was a woman of great cultivation, the writer of hymns and poems which are to be found in general collections, and the editor of the "Sacred Offering." Young Jevons received his early education along with his cousin. Prof. Roscoe, at the High-School of the Mechanics' Institution, Liverpool, the head-master of which was, at that time, Dr. W. B. Hodgson, now Professor of Political Economy in the University of Edinburgh. At the age of sixteen he went to University College, London, and, during the two years he remained there, distinguished himself highly in the classes of mathematics and natural science. In 1853 he received, on the recommendation of Prof. Graham, the offer of an appointment as an assayer to the Australian Royal Mint at Sydney. He accepted this appointment, and, after having qualified himself by a course of assaying under Profs. Graham and Miller, he proceeded to Sydney, where he discharged the duties of the office for five years, devoting his leisure time to scientific investigations, particularly meteorology. He, however, resolved to leave this field of work and devote himself to the study of the higher sciences. Returning from Australia, he visited the United States in 1859, and, arriving at London, he at once resumed his studies in the University College, and won distinction in his various classes. In 1862 he graduated as M. A. with first-class honors, and the gold medal in the department of Logic, Philosophy, and Political Economy. Two years later he was elected Fellow of University College.

In 1863 he published his first important work on economical science, entitled "A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold ascertained, and its Social Effects set forth." He consented to take the position of tutor in Owens College in 1863, and in 1866 was elected to the chair of Logic and Political Economy in that institution. The year 