ON SUPERHEATED STEAM. 205 



other people's, and having been successful with 

 them, nevertheless wish that there were no patent 

 laws at all, and that there should be no protection 

 by law to inventors. This, I know, is held by 

 the majority to be an unjust and robbing doctrine ; 

 but I believe real talent will always find its own 

 reward, and that the good and advantage of the 

 few must and ought to give way to the good and 

 advantage of the many. I, of course, whilst I 

 have to risk my money to pay for patents, will 

 take all the protection the laws give. My own 

 patent claims in the vulcanizer are for the use of 

 an atmosphere of steam, sub-saturated, however 

 formed ; and also for the use of steam generated 

 from plaster or hydrated solids alone. The patent 

 of Thomas Hancock for moulding the vulcanite, of 

 which I have the sole license for its application to 

 dentistry, is one of the first and best patents ; and 

 I wish publicly to state before this Society, and 

 I do so with respect, that any dentist forming the 

 bases of teeth as they are now formed, is working 

 under that patent. A notice of the same, with 

 the date and title of the patent, has been inserted 

 in the dental journals. I will add here, that both 

 my own patent and my possession of the Hancock 

 patent, shall be worked quite as much as it is 

 possible for the interests of the profession as for 

 my own. 



In consequence of the great adulterations prac- 

 tised (and which I before have shown the india- 



