March 31, 192 1] 



NATURE 



131 



being-. Thus one may see how the whole scale or 

 plane of payment to inventors became raised. 



But the Commissioners considered themselves 

 bound by the terms of the Patent Acts and by the 

 state of public opinion, which had slowly crystal- 

 lised during- a long- period when such a cataclysm 

 as a world-wide contest was not in contemplation. 

 With respect to those inventions which were not 

 patented, more credit is perhaps due to their 

 originators, since, rather than tie the hands of 

 the Executive by appeal to statute, they were 

 content to leave over the settlement of any claim 

 which might be theirs to calmer times, and to 

 rely upon the just sense of the community for 

 the recog-nition of their services. In this respect 

 we should like to have seen more acknowledg- 

 ment of this disinterestedness than is evinced by 

 the Report. 



After all, the question arises as to the morality 

 of the recommendation of grants. At a time when 

 so much was at stake, when the call was sounded 

 for the endeavour of every individual towards 

 the single object of winning the war, is it alto- 

 g-ether right, it may be asked, that huge sums of 

 money should be paid over by the State to those 

 who, gifted with inventive genius, were successful 

 in solving in a practical manner the problems with 

 which the nation was temporarily confronted? 

 That some recognition should have been accorded, 

 no one could gainsay ; but it is a different matter 

 to attempt to recompense on a business footing 

 those who, at a period of grave national stress, 

 might justly have been called upon to exert their 

 utmost towards staving off imminent peril with- 

 out excessive fee or reward. As regards inventors 

 who took advantage of the protection afforded by 

 Patent Law, and secured thereby legal rights to 

 compensation, the arbiters before whom the ques- 

 tion of recompense might finally have come could 

 with fairness and reason have called into review 

 the duty incumbent upon every citizen to employ at 

 such a time every faculty with which he was 

 endowed, and to have recommended reward pro- 

 portionate thereto. 



As it is a " First Report " that we have been 

 considering, we look forward with interest to a 

 supplementary publication, when it is to be hoped 

 that the terms of the Warrants under which the 

 Commissioners were appointed may appear. In 

 the present instance the terms are absent. In the 

 next Report we would also suggest typographical 

 improvement in its presentation, such as the em- 

 ployment of marginal references, a "display" of 

 paragraphs, the grouping of closely allied subject- 

 XO. 2683, VOL. 107] 



matter under informative cross-headings, and a 

 less rigid economy in space and paper. More- 

 over, a greater freedom in style and exposition 

 would be of assistance to the reader. By the 

 adoption of suggestions such as these, a far 

 more readable document could be secured, and 

 much valuable reasoning and information run less 

 risk of being overlooked. And if the price of two- 

 pence were raised to sixpence, or more, in order 

 to secure these advantages, few would be found 

 to complain. As is the case with so many Reports 

 which emanate from Government sources, the 

 force and value of this First Report are not spent 

 with its publication. The close reasoning with 

 which it is packed, the equitable manner in which 

 the Commission directed its conclusions, and the 

 discrimination which it brought to bear upon the 

 difficult tasks with which it was faced, render the 

 Report a valuable document to all who in any way 

 are, or may be, concerned in assessing compensa- 

 tion or reward for the use of inventions patented 

 or unpatented. Indeed, the Report might well 

 form the basis of a chapter in a classic which con- 

 cerned itself with the patent system of this 

 country and its administration. W^e can give it no 

 higher praise. 



As regards rewards for future inventions and 

 discoveries, and means for stimulating research, 

 the best method of arriving at satisfactory conclu- 

 sions is, from the nature of the case, far from 

 settled. Circumstances in respect of men and 

 objects to be secured or aims to be achieved vary 

 to such a degree that principles capable of general 

 application and acceptable to large bodies of 

 workers are difficult to formulate. As described 

 in Nature for February 21, 1918 (vol. c, 

 p. 484), Mr. Walter B. Priest would assimilate the 

 allocation of funds to scientific research through 

 a special Statute modelled upon our Patent Law. 

 Since that time Mr. Priest has continued to keep 

 in the forefront his scheme for the promotion of 

 scientific research, and has adapted it to the work 

 of the Advisory Council of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research. Iii a series of 

 memoranda the working of the scheme, as modi- 

 fied by special conditions, is set out at length. 2 

 These memoranda, supplementary to the original 

 scheme, were submitted to the Department. In 

 due course Mr. Priest was thanked for his views, 

 and informed that they would receive careful 

 consideration. Mr. Priest is particularly anxious 

 to assist in scientific discovery, for which in- 



■- The Administration of Grants for Scientific Discoveries. Scheme and 

 Memoranda, by Walter IJ. Priest. (Privately circulated, 1921.) 



