i66 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



one-half ounce of flour or less ; and the other, which throws the box 

 into the air, three-quarters of an ounce, unless, as I thmk quite prob- 

 able, an additional amount of air is drawn in through the cracks as soon 

 as the vent is opened at the top of the box. In fact, these experi- 

 ments work better if a few small holes are made near the bottom of 



4- j-j fi 1") O X G S 



It may be worthy of mention here, as a point of interest to insur- 

 ance companies that, in all dust-explosions, a fire precedes the explo- 

 sion in every case. The dust must burn before the heat that produces 

 the immense expansive force is generated. 



Too great precaution cannot be taken in all kinds of manufactories, 

 where combustible dust is produced, against fire, especially in those 

 establishments where it is conveyed in thick clouds by air-draughts 

 thi-ough spouts and rooms. 



PEOFESSOK HUXLEY BEFOEE THE ENGLISH COPY- 

 EIGHT COMMISSION.* 



CHAIRMAN. Your attention has, no doubt, been called to the copy- 

 right question in a practical shape ? 

 Ansicer. Yes. 

 Q. Will you kindly give the commission a general outline of the 



way in which it presents itself to you ? 



A. It appears to me, in the first place, that, if there be any founda- 

 tion for property at all, it is as clear in the case of a book as of any- 

 thing else, a book being the investment of a man's capacity and knowl- 

 edo-e, and requiring the sacrifice of a vast amount of his time. Under 

 those circumstances it appears to me that prima facie it has the same 

 rio-ht to be protected as any other kind of property. But then, oi 

 co'urse, a practical difficulty arises from the fact that a book can be 

 readily copied, and that under those circumstances what evidently 

 amounts to stealing the property of the author cannot very well be 

 brought under the ordinary conditions of theft. I should, however, be 

 glad in the first place to express my belief that, so far as a matter of 

 right is concerned, if there be any foundation for rights of property, 

 the right of an author in a book is as complete, and extends as far, as 

 the right of anv person to any property whatever. I think that my 

 view upon the "subject will be clear if I take the concrete case of a 

 man who has written a book and who has a certain number of printed 



> Friday April 13 1877 : Lord John Manners, M. P., in the chair. Members of the 

 commission' present, Sir Henry T. Holland, Sir John Rose, Sir H. Druramond ^\olff Ed- 

 ward Jenkins, Esq, M. P, Dr. William Smith, James Anthony Froude, Esq., Anthony 

 TroUope, Esq. 



