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of October 11,1887. hy that patent the following claims were allowed 
~ to Professor Swenson: Aa : / ; 
Ce * ‘ (1) As an improvement in the diffusion process of making sugar, fhe mode herein 
>. described of preventing the invertive action of the organic acids in the cane chips 
_- upon the sugar during the process of extraction, said mode consisting in adding to 
- the diffusion bath a carbonate of the alkaline earths, substantially as set forth. 
Me _ (2) As an improvement in the diffusion process of making sugar, the mode herein 
_. described of preventing the invertive action of the organic acids in the cane chips 
iD upon the sugar during the process of extraction, said mode consisting in adding to 
- the diffusion bath calcium carbonate, substantially as set forth. 
-. .. The application for this patent was filed on December 29, 1886, after 
-. . Professor Swenson’s employment by the Government had ceased, 
but the nature of the claims is so closely allied to the experiment 
made with carbonate of lime, heretofore alluded to, that it seems to 
leave no doubt that Professor Swenson intended to cover in his 
patent the suggestion which he made in the line of, his duty, which 
( an improvement in a process which had been conceived, planned, 
-. and was then being perfected by the Government of the United 
States. 
I deem. it proper to add that I have had an exhaustive search made 
of judicial decisions and legal opinions bearing upon the validity of 
a patent granted under these circumstances, and that I have become 
_. appointment and employment by this Department, will affect the 
validity of his claim, and that I have therefore called the attention 
of the Attorney-General to all the facts in the case and suggested to 
him the institution of a suit looking to a perpetual injunction to re- 
_ strain Professor Swenson from making any use of this patent, 
a As bearing upon this case, | beg respectfully to inclose, as an ap- 
pendix to this communfceation, certain citations and memoranda for 
- ~ the information of the Senate, and in this connection I beg also to 
-. recommend such immediate action on the part of the legislative 
branch of the Government as will enable the Attorney-General, if 
- _ he has not now sufficient authority, to institute a suit looking to the 
cancellation of the patent in question, 
-,  . Wery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
mrs NorMAN J. COLMAN, 
Hon, Joun J. Incauzs, Commissioner of Agriculture. 
' President pro tempore United States Senate, 
\ , Copy of statement of facts submitted to the Attorney-General for his information by the Commis- 
ba) sioner of Agriculture. ] 
Letters Patent, No, 371528, issued to Magnus Swenson, Manufacture of sugar. 
STATEMENT OF FACTS. 
The Department of Agriculture directed its attention to the manufacture of sugar 
from maize and sorghum cane in the year 1877, and since that time has continuously 
, been engaged in investigations and experiments for the purpose of discovering a 
i process that would extract the sugar from these canes in 9, commercially successful 
* . manner. These experiments have been carried on by direct authorization of Con- 
ess. 
The first session of the Forty-seventh Congress appropriated, ‘‘for experiments 
in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum, beets, and other sugar-producing plants, 
twenty-five thousand dollars” (Stat. L,. vol. 22, p. 91), x i 
_ The same Congress at its second session appropriated $16,000 (vol, 22. p, 410); the 
Forty-eighth Congress at its first session appropriated $50,000 (vol. 23, p. 38), and at 
¥ ‘ : 
REPORT OF THE CHEMIST.» a anaes 
“convinced th t the state of the art, and the fact of Mr. Swenson’s 
Bs kaa: 
, ¥ 
was adopted during his employment, and which amounted only to » 
