Item 21 - Richard Jones to William Whewell

3 pp.

Brasted - RJ transcribes part of William Jacob's positive speculations on the distribution of RJ's book ['An Essay on the Distribution of Wealth and on the Sources of Taxation', 1831]. RJ is 'more and more in love with my intended sketch of inductive logic. I think it is just possible you may think it touches on your domain - never mind - I think in that case it will be useful to you - because it proceeds on a sort of comparison with the purposes and methods of deductive logic which I do not think it ever occurred to you to make so fully, and if it is useful to you and through you to the world I shall be content - I want only to help to spread the faith and have all the disinterested zeal of a knight errant in the great cause'. RJ will 'prove even to Whately [Richard Whately] that the outline of an art of reasoning (for I do not mean to give him that word to put in irons) inductively on almost all subjects is to be got from Bacon and nature as compleat in all that is useful and really natural as their art of deductive reasoning and also what men must do to compleat the outline and what a darling thing it will be when done'.