ost helpful for this purpose, in throwing light upon many of the
obscurities with which Formal Logic abounds, and in furnishing a
delightfully easy method of _testing_ the results arrived at by the
cumbrous processes which Formal Logic enforces upon its votaries.

This is, I believe, the very first attempt (with the exception of my own
little book, _The Game of Logic_, published in 1886, a very incomplete
performance) that has been made to _popularise_ this fascinating
subject. It has cost me _years_ of hard work: but if it should prove, as
I hope it may, to be of _real_ service to the young, and to be taken up,
in High Schools and in private families, as a valuable addition to their
stock of healthful mental recreations, such a result would more than
repay ten times the labour that I have expended on it.

L. C.

29, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.
_Christmas, 1896._

pg-xi

INTRODUCTION.

_TO LEARNERS._

[N.B. Some remarks, addressed to _Teachers_, will be found in the
Appendix, at p. 165.]

The Learner, who wishes to try the question _fairly_, whether this
little book does, or does not, supply the materials for a most
interesting mental recreation, is _earnestly_ advised to adopt the
following Rules:--

(1) Begin at the _beginning_, and do not allow yourself to gratify a
mere idle curiosity by dipping into the book, here and there. This would
very likely lead to your throwing it aside, with the remark "This is
_much_ too hard for me!", and thus losing the chance of adding a very
_large_ item to your stock of mental delights. This Rule (of not
_dipping_) is very _desirable_ with _other_ kinds of books----such as
novels, for instance, where you may easily spoil much of the enjoyment
you would otherwise get from the story, by dipping into it further on,
so that what the author meant to be a pleasant surprise comes to you as
a matter of course. Some people, I know, make a practice of looking into
Vol. III first, just to see how the story ends: and perhaps it _is_ as
well just to know that all ends _happily_----that the much-persecuted
lovers _do_ marry after all, that he is proved to be quite innocent of
the murder, that the wicked cousin is completely foiled in his plot and
gets the punishment he deserves, and that the rich uncle in India (_Qu._
Why in _India_? _Ans._ Because, some