Jntelligencc and Miscdlitneous Articles. 67 



the earth to be reflected tVom the dark part of tlie moon's disc, as 

 has been supposed by souic modern philosopher?. 



The reflected hght from the uniiluminated part of the moon in 

 her first quarter, as before mentioned, is sufficient to eslabHsh the 

 fact of the existence of an'attenuated lunar atmosphere, which, ac- 

 cording to the ingenious calculations of the celebrated M. Schroeter 

 of Lilienthal, cannot be much less than a mile and a half in height 

 II" the nioon were a mere cinder, as some would have her to be, and 

 without any atmosj^here, is it possible that the light she receives 

 from the earth could be reflected to it from the dark part of her 

 disc? 



LAW OF PATENT INVENTIONS. 

 Extractsjrom the Minutes of Evidence taken before a Select Committee 



of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the present State 



of the Law and Practice relative to the granting of Patents and 



Inventions. Session of 1829. 



The Committee state in a report of a few lines (dated l'2th June 

 1829), thac they found the subject so intricate and important, that 

 it occasioned the necessity of examining witnesses at great length ; 

 wherefore they were only prepared to report the minutes of the 

 evidence taken before them, together with several documents : but 

 they recommended to the house, that the inquiry should be resumed 

 early in the next session. 



These minutes of evidence occupy 160 folio pages, and the do- 

 cuments mentioned by the committee are contained in an Appen- 

 dix of nearly 100 pages more. We have found it impracticable to 

 condense into the few pages we can devote to this subject sufficiently 

 copious extracts to convey to our readers the particular sentiments 

 of each witness ; hence we have preferred the evidence of those 

 gentlemen who appear to have given the most important informa- 

 tion to the conmiittee. Amongst theseare Davies Gilbert, Esq. M.P. 

 President of the Royal Society, Arthur Howe Holdsworth, Esq. 

 M. P., both members of the committee; Mr. John Taylor, Mine 

 Agent, Mr. Brunei, Mr. Farey, and Mr. Clegg, Engineers ; Arthur 

 Aikin, Esq. Secretary to the Society of Arts, and others. 



The evidence given by Mr. Farey is the most extensive ; and as 

 he furnished nearly all the documents contained in the Appendix, 

 we shall for the present make extracts from his evidence and papers, 

 proposing to continue the subject in a future Number. 



Mr. John Farey^ Engineer, called in and examined, llth May. 



Have you had considerable experience in the practice of taking 

 out letters patent? — Yes, in assisting inventors professionally, to 

 enable them to bring forward new inventions, and make them prac- 

 tically useful ; in advising them how to secure their inventions by 

 patent; in preparing titles and specifications for patents for new in- 

 ventions; and assisting inventors to support their patent rights at 

 law when disputed. 



Can you state the expense of taking out a patent? — 1 can state 



the sum totals; for England, I think it will be found to amount to 



120/.; for Scotland, perhaps 100/.; and for Ireland, I think more 



K 2 than 



