Chapter XXIX

Formulate the following trains of reasoning, resolve them into their component parts, and point out any violations of the rules of syllogism which they may contain--

(1) No Church Institutions are useful; for they teach religious matters, not business matters, which latter are useful, being profitable.

(2) Mr. Darwin long ago taught us that the clover crop is dependent on the number of maiden ladies in the district. For the ladies keep cats, and the cats destroy the field-mice, which prey on the bees, which, in their turn, are all-important agents in the fertilisation of the clover flowers.

(3) Athletic games are duties; for whatever is necessary to health is a duty, and exercise is necessary to health, and these games are exercise.

(4) The iron-trade leads to the improvement of a new country; for furnaces require to be fed with fuel, which causes land to be cleared.

(5) 'Is stone a body?' 'Yes.' 'Well, is not an animal a body?' 'Yes,' 'And are you an animal?' 'It seems so.' 'Then you are a stone, being an animal.'

(7) The soul is not matter. My arm is not myself.

(8) Honesty deserves reward and a negro is a fellow-creature. Therefore an honest negro is a fellow-creature deserving of reward.