642 



PATENTS. 



was appointed Professor of Surgery in the 

 New York College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons in 1839, a post which "he held for thirty 

 years. In connection with that institution he 

 established in 1840 the first college clinic in 

 the United States a feature of medical in- 

 struction that has been extended since then 

 to the larger medical schools of the country. 

 With the Bellevue Hospital of New York he 

 was connected for many years as attending 

 and consulting surgeon. He was made Presi- 

 dent of the New York State Inebriate Asylum 

 in 1865. His active and honorary appoint- 

 ments were numerous. He had a very exten- 

 sive private practice. His remarkable skill 

 and knowledge, his strict professional and 

 personal integrity, his abounding energy and 

 breezy humor, endeared him to a large circle of 

 friends and patients. He was a man of few 

 enemies, and fewAmerican surgeons have filled 

 more acceptably so many positions of high 

 responsibility as Dr. Parker, or filled them with 

 more capacity, zeal, and vigor. His eminent 

 success in treatment was based upon great 

 knowledge and skill, and absolute good faith 

 in the management of cases. In 1854, first in 

 this country, he described and reported cases 

 of malignant pustule; and he first discrimi- 

 nated the phenomena of concussion of the 

 nerve-centers from those of nerve-concussion 

 itself. Dr. Parker's extensive private practice 

 prevented him from giving much time to writ- 

 ing; yet he left a considerable number of mon- 

 ographs upon surgical and medical subjects. 

 Among these may be mentioned " Cystotomy " 

 ("New York MedicalJournal," 1850) ; " Spon- 

 taneous Fractures" ("New York Journal of 

 Medicine," 1852) ; " On the High Operation for 

 Stone in the Female " (" New York Journal of 

 Medicine," 1855); " The Concussion of Nerves" 

 ("New York Medical Times," 1856); "Liga- 

 ture of the Common Carotid " (" New York 

 MedicalJournal," 1857); " Hospital Gangrene " 

 ("American Medical Times," 1863); "Liga- 

 ture of the Subclavian Artery" ("American 

 Medical Times," 1864); "Spermatorrhoea" 

 ("American Medical Times," 1864); and a 

 "Lecture on Cancer" ("New York Medical 

 Record," 1873). 



PATENTS. The business of the United States 

 Patent-Office was about the same in 1884 as in 

 1883. Its total receipts were over $1,000,000, 

 and its surplus for the year was over $100,000. 



Statistics. Below are some tabulated state- 

 ments of the year's work. 



The designating numbers "of first and last 

 patent, etc., for 1884, were : 



Receipts .... 

 Expenditures 



$1,075,798 00 

 970,579 76 



Keceipts over expenditures $105.219 04 



Expenditures for salaries 557,859 25 



Applications filed for patents, caveats, trade-marks, 



andlabels 40,710 



Applications filed for patents only 85,600 



Patents issued 20,297 



Patents reissued 116 



Trade-marks and labels registered 1,584 



Patents expired during the year 12,301 



Withheld for payment of final fee 2,839 



Patents issued to citizens of the United States 19,013 



Patents issued to foreigners 1,284 



Among the citizens of foreign countries, 

 those of England received 438 patents ; of Ger- 

 many, 253; of Canada, 220; of France, 161. 

 From these as leaders the list runs down; sev- 

 eral states, such as Venezuela, only receiving 

 one patent. Among the citizens of the differ- 

 ent States of the Union, those of Connecticut, 

 with 896 patents, head the per capita list with 

 one patent for every 694 inhabitants ; the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, with 207, has one for every 

 858 inhabitants; New York, with 3,924, has 

 one for every 1,295 inhabitants; North Caro- 

 lina comes at the foot of the list with 58, which 

 is one for every 24,133 inhabitants. 



Annual Reports. The Commissioner's annual 

 report for 1884 was published in the " Official 

 Gazette " for Feb. 10, 1885. It bears date of 

 Jan. 31, 1885. 



Foreign. The business of the English Patent- 

 Office under the new law was very large, about 

 17,000 patents being issued. This in a few 

 years will render the British reports of greater 

 comparative importance in determining antici- 

 pations. There appears to be no probability 

 of an international patent law for some time 

 to come. The patent laws of the different 

 countries have been so varied in their form that 

 an assimilation at this late date would tend to 

 much confusion, at least until one generation of 

 patents was disposed of. 



Litigation. The year was signalized by sev- 

 eral important litigations. After four years 

 devoted to the taking of testimony and com- 

 pleting the record, the great Bell-Drawbaugh 

 telephone suit came to trial before Judge Wal- 

 lace in the United States Circuit Court in New 

 York. The printed record, briefs, abstracts of 

 testimony, etc., filled twenty octavo volumes. 

 In its argument nearly two weeks were con- 

 sumed. Messrs. Ed w ard N. Dickerson and Ros- 

 coe Conkling were among the counsel for the 

 Bell Company ; while ex-Judge Lysander Hill 

 and Senator Edmunds, among others, opposed 

 them. The case, which was probably the 

 greatest patent suit ever tried, was computed 

 to involve $100,000,000. It was decided by 

 Judge Wallace in favor of the Bell Telephone 

 Company. The famous patents granted to Al- 

 exander Graham Bell for the electrical tele- 

 phone were attacked in this suit, and the de- 

 cision affirmed their validity. The Bell patents 

 have been declared invalid in Canada, for non- 

 compliance with the requisite conditions. 



The treatment of patents, and especially of 

 reissued patents, by the Supreme Court of the 

 United States, has been as severe as ever. Re- 

 issues are decided against to such an extent 

 that it is very risky to bring suit upon one, in 



