350 



NATURE 



[September 8, 1923 



as the policy of the National Union of Scientific 

 Workers. 



The idea of a patents committee of this character, it 

 may be remarked, is a favourite one with reformers, 

 but however much there is to be said in its favour, 

 its formation, functions, and operations would be such 

 as to render the idea all but impossible in practice. A 

 very near approach to the constitution and working of 

 such a committee was to be witnessed during the War. 

 Many consultative bodies, in the exceptional circum- 

 stances of the time, were established by the Ministr\' of 

 Munitions for estimating the value of inventions. As 

 a result, a vast accumulation of information upon the 

 practical working of those consultative bodies was 

 obtained ; information which, if made available to the 

 public, would indicate how little the expectation of 

 reformers in this direction could be realised. Sound 

 contribution to the discussion of the relation between 

 employer and employed as regards inventions and 

 their mutuality of interest is ever welcome, and in the 

 proper quarters should always receive careful attention. 

 It is open to question, however, whether the claims of 

 the employee will be materially enhanced by the 

 advocacy which appears in the Scientific Worker, where 

 some basic misconception occurs in respect of the 

 employee's legal position, and where the implication lies 

 that all employers are to be judged by reference to the 

 action of those who abuse their position. 



In a second article devoted to patents in the same 

 issue of the Scientific Worker Dr. N. R. Campbell urges 

 the entire abolition of the patent system without any 

 definite substitute. He considers that the system 

 gives industrialists a wholly false view of the place of 

 science in industry and, in consequence, diminishes the 

 number of scientific workers whom they employ. 

 " So long," says Dr. Campbell, "as we associate 

 scientific work with patents, the delusion that is 

 responsible for the backward state of scientific industry 

 in this country will continue," and, if patents were 

 abolished, manufacturers would have to rely upon the 

 excellence of their products and the efficiency of their 

 processes and not on the establishment of monopolies. 

 There must be dismissed once for all, Dr. Campbell 

 continues, the wild idea that, by some modification of 

 patent law or machinery, there can be wrested from 

 the greedy capitalist some enormous profit that he 

 makes by exploitation of the inventor. 



Dr. Campbell refers also to the necessity, in the 

 case of a really important invention, of spending many 

 thousands of pounds upon defending a patent in the 

 courts. This necessity is and has been a crying evil 

 which seems to be almost inseparable from the existing 

 patent law. It is indeed remarkable that the talent of 

 the legal expert united with the genius of the manu- 

 NO. 2810, VOL. 1 12] 



facturer have not yet succeeded in evolving a scheme 

 whereby, at a relatively small cost, the scope of an 

 invention may be accurately defined and the validity 

 of its protecting patent readily determined. The diffi- 

 culties in the production of such a scheme, which with- 

 out losing sight of the interests of the public shall yet 

 reserve to the inventor all the rights to which he is 

 entitled, are undoubtedly great ; but surely some 

 means are discoverable whereby the present outlay 

 for obtaining confirmation of an important patent 

 and the settlement of the allegation of infringement 

 could be much reduced. The National Union of 

 Scientific Workers would indeed be doing true yeoman's 

 service if, in all its bearings, the Union would consider 

 this matter and assist in l>rin(,in,r :,!.,. nt -, mn. J,. 

 needed reform. 



The Social Influence of the Internal 

 Combustion Engine. 



The Internal Combustion Engine. By Harr>' R. Ricardo. 

 Vol. 2 : High-speed Engines. Pp. vii + 373. 

 (London, Glasgow and Bombay : Blackie and Son, 

 Ltd., 1923.) 3o,y. net. 



IT does not seem long ago, though actually fourteen 

 years have passed, since we overheard a well- 

 known man of letters gently curb the impulsive pen 

 of a younger writer who wished to record an impression 

 that the increasing use of the internal combustion 

 engine must prove a vital factor in our coming civilisa- 

 tion. Events have moved so rapidly that it now seems 

 surprising that this impression could have appeared 

 to be an overstatement. But fourteen years ago the 

 man-in-the-street was quite unaware of what sort 

 of thing an " internal combustion engine " might be, 

 if indeed such a thing existed. Moreover, until that 

 time no engineering writer had even dared to put 

 so unfamiliar a title on the cover of his book. Gas 

 engines, oil engines, and petrol engines were of course 

 known, but it was scarcely suspected that apparatus of 

 that sort was likely to have any primar}- effect on world 

 history. 



Who would have then divined that the introduction 

 by Daimler, fourteen years still earlier, of the high- 

 speed petrol engine was of such potentiality that it 

 would become a debatable point whether our " sure 

 shield," the British Navy, should be allowed to have its 

 Singapore base strengthened, in advance of the pro- 

 vision of an adequate home defence force of those 

 aircraft the very existence of which is one outcome of 

 the pioneer work of Daimler ? This is, it is true, merely 

 a military- parallel, but equally striking ones could be 

 drawn from civilian activities. The development of 

 intemal-combustion-engine road transport is one of the 



