194 THE PATH OF SCIENCE 



nical development is largely accomplished when the original 

 discovery is made, a belief which has been encouraged by 

 scientists without industrial experience who believe that any 

 delay in the application of a scientific discovery is due to 

 malignancy on the part of industrialists rather than to the 

 inherent problems of promoting a scientific discovery to the 

 stage where it is of general use. 



In industrial research ^ve usually consider that the cost of 

 the work in the research laboratory is of the order of 10 per 

 cent of the total cost of developing an entirely new product 

 to the point where it is ready for the market. Since the cost 

 is an accurate measure of the energy involved, it is fair to 

 consider that the original invention represents on the average 

 only 10 per cent of the work involved in the development of 

 a new product. 



In a system of private enterprise, discoveries made in re- 

 search institutes are not developed commercially unless those 

 who develop them can see the possibility of a return for the 

 work they have to do. If such discoveries are offered for 

 development by the granting of non-exclusive patent licenses 

 without any possibility of even a temporary monopoly being 

 obtained, they will not be attractive to those who must 

 spend much inore money and energy than were required for 

 the original discovery. On the other hand, the spirit of the 

 time is quite opposed to the gianting of an effective monopoly 

 for even a moderate term of years. During the second W^orld 

 War, the Alien Property Custodian in the United States made 

 available a large number of patents confiscated from enemy 

 holders, but in the terms on which these patents are offered, 

 there was a provision for an exchange of licenses if the licen- 

 see holds patents in the same field. This requirement of 

 itself was sufficient to prevent industries from availing them- 

 selves of these patents to any great extent. The problems, 

 therefore, arising from any attempt to control the use of 

 discoveries and inventions of government-controlled research 

 institutes are very great indeed. Probably by far the best 

 solution would be to publish all the results, to take out no 



