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if any, they follow ; and what results, immediate and ultimate, 

 flow from them. I conceive that these inquiries are best pursued in 

 connection with mechanical inventions. A parallel inquiry might 

 be pursued in respect to inventions in the broader sense. In fact 

 the study of savage society is, to a certain extent, such an inquiry. 



Before proceeding to the consideration of the subject, it is im- 

 portant to call attention to the various meanings and shades of 

 meaning of the word invention, which we have such constant occa- 

 sion to employ. A late writer on Patent Law* refers to this in his 

 opening chapter as a source of much confusion, since, as he remarks, 

 it is not uncommon to find the word used in different senses in the 

 same paragraph, even in the same sentence. He distinguishes four 

 meanings of the word : 



(i) The mental act of inventing. 



(2) The thing invented. 



(3) The fact that an invention has been made. 



(4) The faculty or quality of invention. 



It is scarcely necessary to illustrate these significations, since on 

 a little reflection they become apparent. We may say of the sew- 

 ing machine, // was the invention of Hoive, referring to the mental 

 process which produced it ; we may say it is a great or useful inven- 

 tion, meaning the machine itself; we may say the invention of it 

 revolutionized the manufacture of clothing, in which we mean the fact 

 that it was made ; and we may say of any particular form presented 

 to us, there is no invention in it over some earlier form, in which we 

 refer to the quality of invention as distinguished alike from the 

 mental act, the concrete product, and the historical fact. In view 

 of all these uses of the word and not to overload it further, I shall 

 venture to suggest a new one to designate the study of invention. 

 This study has not yet perhaps developed itself as a true science, 

 though it appears to possess all the elements of a science. As 

 a study of growing interest it is worthy of a name of its own, 

 and, with all deference, I submit to the Society, as an appro- 

 priate name worthy of adoption the word Eurematics. f This 

 should include the study not of arts, machines, laws or insti- 



*Merwin. Patentability of Inventions. Boston. 1883. 



■j' EoprjiiM, An invention. If the Greeks had been in the habit of philoso- 

 phizing about inventions, they would have had an adjective, 'euprj/Marcxog, and 

 the word would have found its place in English long ago, as has eureka. 



A 



