C 1V ^ harles Sanders Peirce was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 10, 1839. His father, Benjamin Peirce, a mathe­ matician, was largely responsible for his son’s education prior to the latter’s entering Harvard University in 1855 to undertake studies in physics and chemistry for which he received his degree in 1859. Peirce joined the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1861 and with the exception of a few interventions remained in that posi­ tion for some thirty years. During that time he lectured on logic at Johns Hopkins University and also gave some lectures on philosophy at Harvard and at Lowell Institute in Boston, never, however, obtain­ ing a regular university appointment. Peirce did not enjoy much success as a teacher, partly because of his rigorous insistence upon clarity and precision with the difficult and highly personal terminology involved, and also because of his somewhat eccentric behavior.