22 



NA TURE 



[Nov. 



9, 18; 



ment and fungoid filaments. These fungoid filaments 

 would not be coaxed by any treatment into the develop- 

 ment of fruit, and their nature, therefore, must still remain 

 doubtful. 



Our authors conclude that it is more reasonable to 

 infer that localised spots in the tissues undergo a de- 

 generative change into a substance peculiarly adapted 

 to the development of filamentous growths, the origin of 

 which, in situations where no spore could penetrate, must 

 remain matter of perplexity. 



M. J. Berkeley 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF PATENT LAWS 

 IN ENGLAND 



Abstract of Reported Cases relating to Letters Patent for 

 Inventions. By T. M. Goodeve, M.A. Barrister-at- 

 Law, and Lecturer on Applied Mechanics at the Royal 

 School of Mines. (London: Henry Sweet, 1876.) 



THE subject of the Patent Laws of this country which 

 is now upon its trial, is one which largely affects 

 the interests of scientific men in almost every branch of 

 research, for in a great majority of cases a patent is the 

 only channel through which the inventor of a good thing, 

 which may confer inestimable benefits upon mankind, has 

 any chance of being remunerated. 



There is, at the present time, great diversity of opinion 

 upon the question whether the Patent Laws should exist at 

 all or be abolished, and there is also a diversity of opinion 

 among men of science whether a scientific invention 

 designed for scientific purposes ought to be patented, or 

 freely given to the world. It is universally admitted, 

 however, that some mode of rewarding the individual 

 whose ingenuity and perseverance have enabled him to 

 discover a new invention ought to be in existence ; but, 

 until some better system than that of patents is esta- 

 blished the laws must be dealt with as they are. With 

 regard to purely scientific inventions it is impossible to 

 draw a hard and fast line between those useful alone to 

 science and others upon which large commercial indus- 

 tries may be built. It often happens in the course of 

 scientific research that an idea is struck upon, which, 

 while aiding the immediate inquiry, is at the same time 

 the solution of some great commercial problem, out of 

 which fortunes may be made. The history of the science 

 of Chemistry alone abounds with innumerable instances 

 of the truth of this, and assuredly the original inventor 

 ought to share in benefits derived from what could not 

 have existed apart from, his discovery. 



The principle of patents is in itself good, because it pro- 

 vides that the reward of the inventor is regulated by and 

 is proportionate to the utility of the thing invented, and to 

 the amount of benefit derived from it by the community ; 

 and, at the same time, that reward is at the expense of 

 that portion of the public who use the invention, and not, 

 as in alternative schemes, at the cost of the public at 

 large. The carrying of that principle into practice, how- 

 ever, is beset with so many difficulties, and the adminis- 

 tration of the laws relating to it is so very defective, that 

 a patent which is worth anything, can only be maintained 

 at the cost of endless litigation, which often swamps all 

 possible profits, and with a few exceptions lands the 

 inventor in a large sum out of pocket. 



Much of this would be saved if inventors had a mc 

 accurate knowledge of the Patent Laws, and knew son 

 thing of the principles upon which they are administer 

 in the tribunals of the land. Many a patent is taken c 

 for an invention which is legally disqualified from bei 

 the subject-matter of a patent, and every day letters 

 patent are being granted for things which have be 

 invented and patented over and over again. They i 

 never refused on this ground, and the mischief is r 

 discovered until the expenses of an action at law ha 

 been incurred. 



Prof. Goodeve's work, though not a treatise on t 

 Law of Patents, gives to the reader a remarkably clc 

 insight into that law and its administration, by enabli 

 him to understand the reasons which must guide a coi 

 or jury in their decisions upon patent cases. 



From the vast medley of reported cases scatter 

 throughout the archives of the Courts, the author h 

 made a selection of abstracts chosen with great jud 

 ment on account of the characteristic nature of the pri 

 ciples involved, and, by the omission of all mati 

 extraneous to those principles, has put forward the re 

 points at issue in a very prominent and instruct! 

 manner. In each case the essential pleadings are giv< 

 and the inventions are described as nearly as possible 

 the language of the specification. The claims are stat( 

 with the evidence adduced in their support at the tri 

 and both the direction of the judge and the finding 

 the jury are given in a clear and condensed form. 



Many of the cases quoted in Prof Goodeve's bo 

 involve points of high scientific interest ; and, apart fro 

 its obvious value as a work of legal reference, it will 

 found to be a useful handbook to the inventor, and n 

 without some considerable interest to the general scie 

 tific reader. C. W. C 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\Thc Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expres. 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to retm 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscrip 

 No notice is taken of anonymous conmiunications^ 



Sumner's Method at Sea 



In Nature for August 24 you were good enough 

 review, in very favourable terms, Sir William Tliomso 

 recently published book of tables for facilitating Sumner's A 

 thod of navigation. Since then you republished an attack 

 that method by the Astronomer Royal, which he made in 1 

 form of a letter to Prof. Stokes, after Sir William Thomson \. 

 communicated to the Royal Society the plan upon which his tab 

 are based. Will you allow me, as one who took an active p 

 in preparing Sir W. Thomson's book for publication, and w 

 has had a good deal of practical experience of his method, 

 endeavour to reply shortly to the criticisms of the Astronon 

 Royal ? 



In publishing Sir G. B. Airy's letter, Prof. Stokes appendec 

 note which was really a complete answer to the objecti< 

 brought forward, and this was further enforced by remarks me 

 by Sir W. Thomson in a second communication to the Ro 

 Society (/Vi'f., June, 1871). As, however, the subject was 1 

 briefly treated in these communications, and the Astronon 

 Royal's letter has been republished at his own request, it n 

 not perhaps be useless to go into the question in somewl 

 greater detail. 



After stating the geometrical conditions under which the Su 

 ner line, or locus of the ship's position is obtained from a sini 

 observation of altitude and time, the Astronomer Royal poi: 

 out the very obvious truth that the accuracy of the position of t 

 line depends on the accuracy with which Greenwich time can 



