288 Proceedings of the British Association for 1850. 



the idea of attaching to tlie Royal Society a number of active 

 members, who should devote themselves wholly to scientific 

 pursuits, and I had the satisfaction of communicating to him, 

 through a mutual friend, the remarkable fact, that I had 

 found among the MSS. of Sir Isaac Newton a written scheme 

 of improving the Royal Society, precisely similar to that 

 which he contemplated. Had this idea been realized, it 

 would have been butthefirst instalment of a debt long due to 

 science and the nation, and it would have fallen to the lot of 

 some more fortunate statesman to achieve a glorious name 

 by its complete discharge. It has always been one of the 

 leading objects of the British Association, and it is now the 

 only one of them which has not been wholly accomplished, 

 ' to obtain a more general attention to the objects of a 

 science, and removal of any disadvantages of a public kind 

 which impede its progress.' Although this object is not very 

 definitely expressed, yet Mr Harcourt, in moving its adop- 

 tion, included under it the revision of the law of patents and 

 the direct national encouragement of science, two subjects to 

 which I shall briefly direct your attention. In 1831, when 

 the Association commenced its labours, our patent laws 

 were a blot on the legislation of Great Britain ; and though 

 some of their more obnoxious provisions have since that time 

 been modified or removed, they are a blot still, less deep in 

 its dye, but equally a stain upon the character of the nation. 

 The protection which is given by statute to every other pro- 

 perty in literature and the fine arts, is not accorded to pro- 

 perty in scientific inventions and discoveries. A man of 

 genius completes an invention, and after incurring great 

 expense, and spending years of anxiety and labour, he is 

 ready to give the benefit of it to the public. Perhaps it is 

 an invention to save life — the life-boat ; to shorten space and 

 lengthen time — the railway ; to guide the commerce of the 

 world through the trackless ocean — the mariner's compass ; 

 to extend the industry, increase the power, and fill the coffers 

 of the State — the steam-engine ; to civilize our species, to 

 raise it from the depths of ignorance and crime to knowledge 

 and to virtue — the printing-press. But, whatever it may be, 

 a grateful country has granted to the inventor the sole bene- 

 fit of its use for fourteen years. But what the statute thus 



