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cases, I can speak to the contemptible quibbles which it may cost the patentee thousands of pounds to clear away; and no patent can be held to be secure till it has passed the ordeal of a court of law, and cost from one to three thousand pounds *. I know that one patent which I had some share professionally in vindicating, and it is one of the few that has survived trials both in England and Scotland, has cost the patentees, the Messrs. Croxley, for it is the gas-meter, between £10,000 and £12,000. This oppressive result would be avoided, and its recurrence prevented by the previous investigation of claims for patents, by granting them causa cognita; and when the means are deliberately taken, to determine the points first of utility, and then of originality and priority, and to put the public at large on their guard, the right should be declared absolute, like that to any other property, and uncancellable during its term. All legal questions, with regard to the patentee, would then be limited to the question not of patent, or no patent, but infringement, or no infringement.

The diminution of litigation, and of course, of ruinous expense to the patentee, in his then position, must be obvious. The whole field of litigation in which he is now forced to prove his patent, would be closed in his favour, and infringement itself would be indirectly prevented, when all hope of defence is taken from the pirate on the insufficiency of the patent, and nothing remains but the question of infringement or not, the usual, and, very often, the successful, ground of attack.

"2. The next evil is the incompetency of common Juries, and even Judges, to try questions of patents in the short and peremptory sittings which can be allotted to them. The Counsel, who have the benefit of previous preparation, come of course prepared; but it is notorious that both Judges and Jury mistake the construction and operation of

By a very recent act passed on a bill introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Brougham, several of the most cruel disadvantages to which patentees were subjected have been removed; but the essential vice remains, or, as it may be called, the solecism that a patent-right signed by the sign manual, and passed under the great seal, is a right of no greater value than to be ruined at law !

complicated machines, and it is their duty, not the counsel's, to decide. It is plain, that the previous investigation of the patent-right would relieve the tribunal that may be called upon to decide upon the question of infringement, of one great branch of the difficulty.

"3. A third evil amounts to a denial in limine, of the advantage of a patent to genius if accompanied by poverty. I allude to the enormous tax, in the form of official fees, laid upon patentees. I can see the justice and reasonableness of certain fees levied to remunerate the labour of a previous investigation of the patent-right, but why should the poor man, whose talent has discovered something that may benefit the country and the species, pay enormous sums to the Lord Chancellor, the Attorney-General, and other high functionaries? Why should these officers be paid by inventive genius, for no greater exertion than a nod of consent? But one-tenth of these fees would remunerate and establish the most perfect attainable system of investigation, and previous and subsequent inquiry.

"It is calculated that one hundred and fifty patents, on an average, pass in the year, costing about £45,000., of which about £7000. is paid to the Treasury, and £38,000. in form of fees to high officers, who do nothing whatever in the matter. It has been well termed the "Patent-grievance," and calls loudly for reform. It operates, in nineteen cases out of twenty, as a prohibition, and it is known to many who hear me, that there are hundreds of inventions which will never see the light, and may die with their authors, from the hopelessness of obtaining the necessary funds to pay the tax.

"The means of remedying these several evils are not now new propositions. They have been proposed by Wrottesley and Curwen, and given in evidence by the most experienced and enlightened witnesses, to Committees of Parliament. They have been discussed for years; their disadvantages as well as their advantages canvassed; and back we are forced to them as essential to the very existence of a rational patent-law.

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They are, First, That patents shall granted, causa cognita, for original useful inventions, and shall be vested rights like other property.

and

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Second, that the investigations previous to granting a patent shall be com

mitted to Commissioners, consisting of eminent scientific men, and lawyers, of rank and character above all suspicion, and endowed by the government,—that endowment to be provided for by a moderate part of the tax now levied upon the inventor, and justly levied, because it is to pay for labour in his service; and, Thirdly, that official fees on patents be abolished, and a portion only retained to remunerate the Commissioners, who actually labour in the applicant's business.

"Some hold that patents should be obtained free, like the copyright of books. It would be desirable that this were practicable, but it is not. There is no doubting the originality of a book or the composition of its words and sentences, originality on the one hand and plagiarism on the other, are of easy establishment; but of the originality and utility of an invention in mechanics or chemistry, the investigation may be complicated and difficult. It will require labour, and that labour must be paid for, and by none other than the person who demands it. But he should have the labour at the lowest possible rate, to have it of the best quality, and that should be the sole expense of a patent. Suppose then that one hundred and fifty patents are passed in the year, costing the applicants 507. each, for the three kingdoms and colonies, the sum of 7500l. would be raised to reimburse government for stated salaries, paid by it directly to the commissioners. It would be important that government should salary the commissioners, and take away temptation to pass frivolous inventions to increase the returns.

vestigations to each other. That there might be a majority of boards, three would be better than two.

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Applicants would apply, as now, by petition to the king through the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who would at once send the case to one of the boards for investigation. Time and publication of the invention, by name and general description, would advertise the lieges whom it might concern. Competitors would be heard, their claims determined, admitted, or repelled, and the patent advised to be given or refused. The defeated party would then have a right of appeal to the other boards, and all the documents might be transmitted. The joint opinion, or that of a majority of the boards, to be final.

"No trial of the patent being afterwards compelled, it is only necessary to provide for questions of infringement. That I would humbly propose to render the function, the high function of the Commissioners, with appeal from one board to the others, and their verdict of infringement to be then pleaded in a court of law, to the end of obtaining damages. I shall beg to lodge with the secretary of this meeting the details, almost in clauses which might constitute a legislative measure, on the principles I have now laid down."

Physician, not necessarily an M. D. DR. BUCKLAND, in one of the general meetings of the British Association at Bristol, asserted the natural right of the natural philosopher to the appellation of "physician." In speaking of a gentleman of high attainments in mathematics and physics, he boldly and happily styled him a physician. "Mark," says the Doctor, "not a medical one, from having obtained a diploma in the faculty of medicine, but a physician from an extensive acquaintance with the physics,-with the phenomena and laws of the material world." We hope this example of the excellent and sensible doctor will be steadily followed. In a conversation afterwards on the subject, it was suggested to prevent equivocation, that in the new and correct use of the word, it might be spelt "physicien," as the French have it, and that their "Into details this is not the place or division of the last two syllables might time to enter. Each board would have be adopted instead of the usual pronunits secretary and register, and the means ciation "shun." We hope the College of transmitting the results of their in-will be satisfied with this compromise.

"In order to meet doubts of the trustworthiness of the commissioners, it has been proposed by many who have thought on the subject, that the commissioners should be divided into two, or even three, distinct and independent boards. If two, one sitting in London, and another in Edinburgh. If three, one in each of the three capitals; and that no patent should be granted that is not sanctioned by these independent boards. Local jealousies would then be met and remedied, and the state of the arts all over the empire better known.

Valuable Donation, by a Lady, to a

Scientific Institution.

MRS. PAGE, of Speen, in Berkshire, the widow of the late Colonel Frederick Page, has recently presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers, of London, of which Colonel Page was a member, "all such parts of his library and collections as relate to the objects of the profession, for a memorial of their late colleague." As the Colonel, during a long life, had been a zealous, intelligent, and liberal promoter and improver of Canal Navigation, and had carefully collected and preserved every fact and document of every canal in every country that came within his reach, the donation is of no ordinary value to such an institution.

Besides several hundred volumes in

English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian, and a large number of maps, plans, drawings, &c., the present contains the MS. engravings, drawings, and documents, which Colonel Page had been preparing for some years, and which he had intended for publication, under the title of An Historical and Statistical View of Inland Navigation, and particularly that of England.

Temperature of London in 1835. FROM observations made regularly by Mr. Webster, at No. 43, Cornhill, London, the mean height of the Thermometer for the year 1835, at that place, was 30.836° Fahr. This is rather higher than the mean of the last fifteen years, which Mr. Webster states to be 29.562° Fahr.

New Fact in Electricity. PROFESSOR Belli, of Milan, has published some experiments conducted by himself, which demonstrate that the negative electric fluid is dissipated in about half the time required by that which is positive. This fact had escaped the observation of Coulomb, and also of M. Biot. M. Peltier, greatly surprised at the difference thus found by the Italian Professor, is now engaged in an attempt to discover the cause.

Berlin University.

An official publication has issued at Berlin, which states that in the University of that city, there are at present 147 professors, 1677 matriculated students, and 470 persons who are studying for their pleasure.

Death of M. Ampère-Election of
M. Savart.

THE esteemed and venerable Ampère, a sketch of whose manner as a lecturer is given in Vol. I., p. 178, is lately dead. M. Ampère was Professor of Experimental Philosophy, (la Physique Expérimentale,) in the Collège de France. M. Savart, during the illness of M. Ampère, discharged his duties at the College. On his death, M. Savart was unanimously selected by the Professors as their candidate for the vacant chair,

and he has since been elected to it by the Académie des Sciences. Bronze Original of the Warwick Vase. AN antique vase of bronze, in remarkable preservation, and of great eleCairo. It is said to be the one cast by gance, has been found in a garden at Lysippus himself, the favourite sculptor of Alexander the Great, and to be the original from which the Warwick Vase has been copied. The French Consul, M. Mimaut, is reported to have refused some very large offers for its purchase.

Statistical Association of Normandy. THE Association of Normandy, instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the statistics of that part of France, have assembled successively in the chief towns of each district, to discuss and collect answers to a series of six hundred inquiries. These had been previously drawn up, and are intended to contain every point desirable to be known. The last meeting has recently taken place at Vire, at which 150 members of the Association were present.

Improved Composition for Crayons

and Pencil Points. TAKE equal quantities of resin and pitch, with as much shellac as is necessary for strength, and add to them fine pulverized black lead, of sufficient quantity, when melted, to form a soft paste; expose the mixture to a melting heat, and stir it with a trowel until it becomes soft and yielding. The composition may then be put into a heated iron mould, and forced through one or more holes, of any size required; it being then in a proper state for rolling, by which it acquires a polished surface. The rolls may then be laid in a straight position, cooled, gauged, and cut into the required lengths. Journal of the Franklin Institute.

Gratuitous Institution for the Forma

tion of Practical Naturalists.

care of the latter, how securely do old and exploded systems still hold their reign, and how strongly does the faded label, and disregard of all modern arrangement, which is evident in every case, testify the blissful ignorance in which their curator has quietly dozed for the last five-and-twenty years!

THE universal necessity for the establishment of a school for the education of the practical naturalist, has been repeatedly urged in L' Echo du Monde savant, a Parisian scientific periodical. The same work has recently announced, "Added to the want of practical natuthat the idea has been carried into exe- ralists, which the reforms in the old cution. There ought to be as little establishments, and the cravings of the doubt of its successful career, as there new are producing, there are new assocan be of the immense assistance it ciations organized for the acquisition, must furnish to the acquirement of an study, and preservation of local natural accurate knowledge of natural history productions, arising in every departin its most extensive sense. We subjoin ment; expeditions for scientific pursome observations on the subject by M. poses are fitting out, at great cost, for Boubée, an eminent French geologist. the exploration of the most distant countries; and the wealthy patrons of science are either visiting themselves, or commissioning others to visit and examine, at their expense, some of the numerous points of the globe on which Nature has deposited myriads of her wonders still unknown. In all these instances, experienced guides and intelligent assistants will be invaluable. But where are they to be found? more, where could a lover of natural science prepare himself for such services by a course of actual research, conducted under the direction of competent teachers, and at a cost within the means of those who are not affluent?

And

"Now that the study of nature is daily gaining so many proselytes to science, it cannot be matter of surprise that the number and contents of collections of natural history are rapidly increasing, and that the demand for persons skilled in the preparation of the objects of such collections, and experienced in their preservation, should become annually greater and more urgent. The scarcity of this class of practical naturalists is, in fact, everywhere so great, that besides several places in which the amateurs of natural history have the means of founding museums, but are deterred from so doing by the want of a naturalist who "In no place that we know of does any could take charge of a collection and opportunity of the kind exist. In no direct the preparations, there are actu- place, for instance, is Taxidermy pracally museums already commenced, tically taught; and public instruction which are in want of conservators and imparted on the art of setting up the cannot obtain them. How many long-spoils of birds and quadrupeds, and established institutions are there also, the officers of whose museums are now utterly inadequate to the duties which the mere extension of the catalogues imposes upon them! And are there not others, whose curators having neglected, or being incompetent, to keep up with the rapid march of their science, are so far in the rear, that the language used by their advanced associates is unintelligible to them?

"Under the eyes of the former, how many rare and precious objects are hourly perishing through the blunders or inattention of their guardians! Who can say what treasures are confined to the friendly damp and obscurity of cellars, that their testimony to the incompetency of the parties to whom they have been intrusted may never obtrude upon the public attention? Under the

giving to each specimen its characteristic expression and attitude. In no place are there lessons on the best modes of collecting and preparing the various classes of reptiles, of fishes, of insects, &c., and of preserving them, when prepared, from the numerous causes of destruction which surround them. Botany, it is true, may boast of her advantages; these have proceeded principally from the ease with which her subjects can be obtained and prepared, but even she has to deplore the losses and mischiefs which ignorance and inexperience are constantly producing. In Mineralogy and in Geology, the knowledge of the beds, judgment in the selection, and skill in the dressing, of the specimens, are possessed by very few individuals, whose position in society, and whose personal acquirements and tastes, are

favourable to the communication of such knowledge to others.

| alone, let us point out the numerous sources of employment for its professors in France only. Natural History is now taught in all her universities and colleges, in numerous departmental institutions, in all the primary schools, and is about to be so in the secondary ones. The number of societies for its promotion, and of records for its history, are daily increasing, and so are the periodical publications, both those entirely devoted to the science, and others which, together with newspapers, devote a section. Botanical, horticultural, and zoological gardens and museums are common in the larger towns, and are even forming in the smaller ones. Enterprising individuals are continually undertaking new experiments and inquiries, associations are formed or forming in every part, the government is urgently demanding the completion of the geological maps of each department of France, and general commerce is becoming interested, on a grand scale, with the natural productions of all countries: hence are offered, to the rising generation particularly, numerous inducements, in a prudential point of view, to the study of natural history. The few who have hitherto devoted themselves to it, have generally been rewarded with offers of engagements from all quarters. And we repeat from our own knowledge, that there is in every part a great want of persons to fill situations, the duties of which would require an intimate knowledge of natural history; and we do not hesitate to avow, that even at Paris we have never yet obtained such a sufficient number of intelligent assistants in this class, as we ourselves desire to attach to our various publications.

"This extensive demand for assistants, and this dearth of instruction which is necessary to create them, has produced that scarcity of preparers, preservers, and travelling-naturalists, which is now severely felt in France, in Great Britain, in Belgium, and in all the northern states of Europe; in all places, in fact, where large public museums, or extensive private collections exist. Applications, in great numbers, are now perpetually addressed to the professors, &c., of the public establishments in Paris, for persons to whom the care of museums might be confided, and for naturalists who could explore skilfully, and report correctiy, the phenomena of nature in new countries, or who would be competent and willing to associate themselves with expeditions of more or less magnitude entirely designed for scientific purposes, or with others of a commercial or political nature, but in which opportunities for scientific research and experiment would be afforded. "It would, therefore, be rendering a most important service to science, if young men could be so prepared, by a short course of actual research and manipulation, as to become useful assistants to their leaders in science, or upright and intelligent guardians of the stores of natural riches already amassed. At the same time, it must also be evident that a new and honourable career would be opened to a numerous class of young men, who have an ardent thirst for knowledge of this kind, but whose friends are alarmed by the prevailing notion that scientific attainments are difficult to acquire, and that when acquired, they are not sufficiently remune- "Impressed with these considerations, rated to permit their possessor to live. In and anxious to supply this great defithis state of public opinion, and particu- ciency of scientific labourers, the founlarly with regard to the latter notion, it ders* of a museum for the collection of is now desirable that every person who natural history on a large scale, in the interests himself in the progress of the Pyrénées, at St. Bertrand-de-Comnatural sciences should make it a duty minges, have resolved to adapt it to the to contradict, within his sphere of practical instruction of naturalists and action, the assertion, that scientific others who may be desirous of becoming studies cannot introduce young men to conservators and scientific assistants in valuable connexions, nor open to them museums, and undertakers or associates any profitable career. It is gratifying in missions for the pursuit of natural to be able to refute such mis-statements, history in every part of the globe. The and on safe grounds to assure all those operations and manipulations constantly who at present entertain such an opinion, carried on in the ateliers and laborathat Science has ceased to be so ungrate-tories attached to the museum, and the ful to her cultivators. Let us take as an * M. Boubée is one of these publicexample, the branch of natural history spirited individuals.

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