384 CYRUS N. ANDERSON 



Senator O. H. Piatt, speaking in 1884, referring to this 



act, said: 



"To my mind, the passage of the act of 1836 creating 

 the patent office marks the first important epoch in the his- 

 tory of our development — I think, the most important event 

 in the history of our government from the constitution until 

 the civil war. The establishment of the patent office marked 

 the commencement of that marvelous development of the 

 resources of the country which is the admiration and wonder 

 of the world, a development which challenges all history 

 for a parallel; and it is not too much to say that this un- 

 exampled progress has been not only dependent upon, but 

 has been coincident with, the growth and development of 

 the patent system of this country. Words fail in attempt- 

 ing to portray the advancement of this country for the last 

 fifty years. We have had fifty years of progress, fifty years 

 of inventions applied to the everyday wants of life, fifty 

 years of patent encouragement, and fifty years of a develop- 

 ment in wealth, resources, grandeur, culture, power which 

 is Httle short of miraculous. Population, production, busi- 

 ness, wealth, comfort, culture, power, grandeur, these have 

 all kept step with the expansion of the inventive genius of 

 the country; and this progress has been made possible only 

 by the inventions of its citizens. All history confirms us in 

 the conclusion that it is the development by the mechanic 

 arts of the industries of a country which brings to it great- 

 ness and power and glory. No purely agricultural, pastoral 

 people ever achieved any high standing among the nations 

 of the earth. It is only when the brain evoh^es and the 

 cunning hand fashions labor saving machines that a nation 

 begins to throb with new energy and life and expands with 

 a new growth. It is only when thought wrings from nature 

 her untold secret treasures that solid wealth and strength 

 are accumulated by a people." 



Under the patent laws now in force in the United States 

 any person who has invented or discovered any new and 

 useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, 

 or any new and useful improvement thereof, not known 

 or used by others in this country before his invention or dis- 



