a set of five principles of sound experimental science proposed by John Stuart Mill. These principles outline the logical conditions under which observations can establish necessary and sufficient causal relationships between events. Because each of the principles enables the observer to eliminate potential causes, the general approach is often referred to as eliminative induction. Mill’s work in this area is related to both the method of exclusion described by Francis Bacon and the work on the logic of causality of David Hume. It also presages the falsificationism of Austrian-born British philosopher Karl Popper (1902–1994). Mill’s five canons are (a) the method of agreement, (b) the method of difference, (c) the method of agreement and difference, (d) the method of residues, and (e) the method of concomitant variation.