212 Notices respecting Neuo Books. 



and expense to which he has been exposed, as well as for the talent 

 he has exerted. But the varieties in the degrees of merit are so nu- 

 merous, and the difficulties of legislating upon the subject are so great, 

 that it has been found almost impossible to frame a law which should 

 not, practically, be open to the most serious objections." — p. 289. 



The difficulty of framing a perfect law of patents, which shall recon- 

 cile all opposing interests, is undoubtedly great; but the present law 

 is so disgraceful in its character, so injurious to the revenue of the 

 country, so subversive of the rights, and so destructive of the property 

 of inventors, that any change upon it must be an improvement. Let 

 the reader only cast his eye over the following table of the expense 

 and duration of patents in the different kingdoms of Europe and 

 America, and then ask himself what he thinks of English legislation. 



Expense of Duration of 



Countries. Patents. Patents. 



Great Britain and Colonies * 35.5 14 



America 615 14 



fl2 5 



France <; 32 10 



Uo 15 



Netherlands 6/. to 30Z. .5,10,15 



Austria 42 10 15 



Spain, Inventor 20 9 4 15 



Improver 12 5 7 10 



Importer 10 4 8 6 



Great Britain thus robs every poor inventor of 355 i. even if he 

 never derive a farthing from his invention ! Laws which thus tax 

 genius, like those which tax knowledge, ought not to be allowed a 

 single day's existence. 



Although the few extracts which we have made from Mr. Bab- 

 bage's volume are in themselves highly interesting, yet they con- 

 vey no idea of the multifarious and popular subjects which are treated 

 of in the work before us, which may be read with as much pleasure 

 as instruction by persons of all ages and all conditions in society. It 

 is, indeed, one of those few works which are equally fitted for the 

 perusal of the philosopher and the general reader. 



Mr. Babbage possesses the happy art of clothing the stores of his 

 highly endowed mind with the richest drapery of language. In de- 

 scription he is perspicuous, in argument he is concise, and in general 

 views of the past, as well as in his anticipations of the future, he rises 

 into a strain of chaste eloquence, in which he has few rivals. The 

 following beautiful passage, which concludes the book, will, we are 

 sure, justify these observations. 



" In whatever light we examine the triumphs and achievements of 

 our species over the creation submitted to its power, we explore 

 new sources of wonder. But if science has called into real existence 

 the visions of the poet, — if the accumulated knowledge of ages has 



* Viz. 120/. for England; 125/. for Ireland ; 100/. for Scotland; and 10/. 

 for the colonies. 



