546 Amcriccm Inventive Genuis — Patent Office Report. [December, 



the snake, when they had rushed forward and killed it to save the 

 bird from destruction. In all the inquiries made, no instance has 

 been related where there was any more evidence of fascination than 

 in the one now stated. In all cases, however, there was a singular 

 uniformity in their descriptions of the manner in which the birds 

 fluttered around the snakes. So nearly did their accounts corres- 

 pond with what I had observed, that I was convinced of the truth- 

 fulness of their statements. 



AMERICAN INVENTIVE GENIUS— PATENT OFFICE RE- 

 PORT. 



The Reports of the Patent Office are curious exhibitions of one form 

 of Human Development. They exhibit the inventive operation of 

 the Human Mind — not as it would flow out spontaneously — in pur- 

 suit of brilliant ideas ; but as Invention is used for profit ! The 

 time has o-one hy when either literature or inventions are produced 

 for fame, or glory. Poetry has almost ceased to be. Painting lan- 

 guishes. Sculpture exists only in two or three localities ; and men 

 make inventions, not as things ingenious or beautiful, but as things 

 that will pay! This brief word of three letters— p-a-y — expresses 

 now the whole end of human action. Willit pay? comprehends the 

 whole practical philosophy of the day. We can not believe that 

 mankind will rise to a higher or purer level by the practice of this 

 philosophy. But, wo can not deny that it has done some good. It 

 has enabled men of genius to live hy their wits ; a thing which thou- 

 sands have always endeavored to do, but seldom succeeded in. Now, 

 •when a man of brilliant faculties is nothing but a Professor, Teacher, 

 or Artist, or Clergyman, at a poor salary, he turns his leisure hours 

 to inventing something, for which the public are willing to pay. — 

 Thus, when Stoves begun to come into fashion, we behold President 

 NoTT, of Union College, burning his midnight lamp to make a good 

 Stove, which he does, succeeds, and makes a fortune. Professor Olm- 

 STEAD, of Yale College, does the same, and thus the dream of mathe- 

 matical theories is relieved by aiding the culinary department.— 

 When rapidity of motion became the order of the day, Mr. Morse, 

 President of the Academy of Fine Arts, stops painting and invents 



