326 



MATURE 



{Aug. 17, 1876 



taining a Brevet d'' Invention are as follows : — The appli- 

 cant for a patent must first apply to No. 24, Rue de Mont 

 Thabor. This is a subordinate bureau of the Minist^re 

 des Finances, not very readily found or publicly indicated. 

 He passes through a gateway between the Caf^ des 

 Finances and a stable for remises. He ascends to the 

 second stage up narrow stairs, dark and odorous. Here 

 is the bureau for the first stage of proceeding. He pays 

 5 francs, and obtains the necessary forms to be filled up ; 

 fills them up and pays 100 francs. 



13. These forms being filled up, he takes them with 

 the receipt to the Hdtel de Ville, and there he deposits 

 his specification. 



14. This specification is sent to a third bureau, which 

 is on the opposite side of the Seine, No. 78, Rue de 

 Varenne, the Minist^re de I'Agriculture et du Commerce, 

 and is also up two pairs of narrow dark stairs. Here the 

 specifications are kept during 15 years, whilst the patent 

 lasts ; after that period they are transferred with any 

 models accidentally accompanying them to the Conserva- 

 toire des Arts et MHiers. The room for searches is about 

 60 feet long and 16 feet wide. The specifications are 

 arranged in carton boxes on shelves. It is rather 

 crowded. Anyone enters and searches in the printed 

 catalogues and calls for the brevet without let or hin- 

 drance ; but he is not permitted to make notes even in 

 pencil. Copies must be ordered of the office at a given 

 tariff, and if a copy of a drawing is required, he must 

 bring his own draughtsman. 



15. The catalogue of the specifications is printed, and 

 may be bought at V. Bouchard Huzard, Rue d'Eperon, 

 No. 5. 



16. It has been already pointed out that the law does 

 not require that any models should be made, but some are 

 sent. The officers kindly showed us what they possessed. 

 We were conducted up back stairs into a little room about 

 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. The floor was covered with 

 models unarranged, and very dusty. On a shelf were 

 some models in tin, also very dusty. A model of a shoe 

 was here, a candlestick there, &c. The officer said that 

 they were very rarely looked at, and the accuracy of the 

 statement was fully borne out by the condition of the 

 room. He said that all the models in this small chamber 

 were the products of some 20 years. 



17. These facts show that the Conseivatoire des Arts 

 et Metiers did not arise and is not at all dependent on 

 any connection with models accidentally delivered with 

 the Brevets d'' Invention, which are not recognised by the 

 French law. The Conservatoire is a great educational 

 institution, teaching the general public through its exhi- 

 bitions, and a special public through its lectures. It seems 

 to us to afford an example which our own country might 

 imitate with advantage generally as to scope and also in 

 many of its details. — We have, &c. 



(Signed) Henry Cole, 



Francis Fowkk, Capt. R.E. 



A map accompanies this Report which shows the build- 

 ings then occupied by the Conservatoire and those which 

 it was proposed to build in addition. If the Commis- 

 sioners of the 1 85 1 Exhibition, to whose laudable scheme 

 we recently referred, have not already consulted this map 

 and the Report, we think they might do so with great 

 advantage. There are many points in common between 

 the scheme which they are considering and the plan which 

 was then being carried out by the French Government, 

 and which resulted in an institution that has been in work- 

 ing order for years, with, it is universally acknowledged, 

 the best results to science and to France. 



In the same Appendix M. Tresca furnishes answers to 

 a number of questions with reference to the actual use 

 made of the models of patents in the Patent Museum of 



Paris. The information thus afforded we would recom- 

 mend to the notice of the Treasury Commission which 

 has for some time been cogitating as to what course to 

 pursue with regard to our own Patent Museum. The 

 analogy between the two cases is very complete, and it 

 suggests that the best solution lies in a course similar 

 to that which has been followed in France. From M. 

 Tresca's answers we learn that in the Catalogue of Patents 

 there were 7,300 entries of models, only 10 of which are 

 accompanied by specifications. While 1,400 specifica- 

 tions had been consulted during 1864, not a single model 

 had been examined or asked for, thus showing that the 

 models were a practically useless part of the Patent 

 Museum. M. Tresca states that the place of a model 

 can be supplied by a drawing, leading to more complete, 

 exact, and certain results, and thus avoiding useless ex- 

 pense. Their loss, therefore, would really be a gain to 

 the Conservatoire ; they cause, M. Tresca states, em- 

 barrassment by their compulsory preservation, the objects 

 rarely representing the final idea of the inventor. They 

 for the most part get destroyed by time without having 

 been consulted by any one. Might not a somewhat similar 

 report be made of our own Collection of " Patents " .'' 



The same blue-book contains some valuable informa- 

 tion with regard to the lectures which were then given 

 in the Paris Conservatoire, which is worth consulting. 

 Later and more complete information in this department 

 may, however, be found in the appendix to the Report 

 of the Duke of Devonshire's Commission. From what 

 we have said, it will be seen that the idea of a Govern- 

 ment Science Museum is by no means of recent growth, 

 but that, on the contrary, it has taken many years to 

 come to a practical issue ; and that, moreover, we have a 

 ready-made example which has stood the test of years, 

 and is now doing work of the highest practical value in 

 the Paris Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. 



COHN ON THE BIOLOGY OF PLANTS 



Beitrdge zur Biologie der PJlanzen. Herausgegeben von 



Dr. Ferdinand Cohn. (Breslau, 1875.) Drittes Heft. 



THE third part of Cohn's " Beitrage," now before us, 

 completes the first volume, and let us express the 

 hope that we may have another volume before very long. 

 Curiously, each of the three parts has been separately 

 paged, an arrangement which renders it necessary to note 

 the part as well as the page when the index is consulted. 

 If we may judge from the size and price, each part has 

 increased in importance, so that the third part has 

 more papers and is nearly double the size of the first. 

 In all the parts there have been papers of great interest 

 and value, and those in the present part are in no way 

 behind their predecessors. Dr. Cohn himself contributes 

 three papers to the present part. Dr. J. Schroeter two, 

 while Drs. L, Just, A. B. Frank, Richard Sadebeck, and 

 Eduard Eidam, each one. The first paper is by Dr. 

 Schroeter on the Development of certain Rust-Fungi. On 

 Carex hirta, one of the Uredineae was observed which Dr. 

 Schroeter believes to be Puccinia caricis of De CandoUe ; 

 and as he had reason to suspect that jEcidium urticcE of 

 Schum was only a stage in the life history of P. caricis, 

 experiments were made to ascertain definitely whether 

 P, caricis was hetercecious, and if so, whether jEcidium 



