[1819. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



273 



makers' Company of London have a fine library of English and 

 foreign books on clock and watch making. 



Wherever common schools, or schools of design, hospitals, or 

 literary institutions, have been set up, a large amount of public 

 support has been given to them; and there can lie no doubt that 

 libraries would share in English liberality and munificence. Let 

 the example be set, and we shall not want a Soane, a Vernon, 

 a Grenville, or a Hope. 



To return to France, IM. Mathias is urging, and we hope with 

 success, the adoption of his suggestions as a means of promoting 

 the interests of our rivals in trade; and it behoves us to take 

 similar measures. At present, Paris does not seem so well pro\'ided 

 as London. M. Mathias cites three special scientific libraries. 

 That of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers is, he says, tlie only 

 one which has practical works suited to mechanics. It is open 

 free — but with a degree of illiberality which is it seems not pecu- 

 liar to England — in the day time only, so that the working classes 

 have not full facilities. The library of the Societe d'Encourage- 

 raent pour I'lndustrie Nationale is a subscription library, like that 

 of our Society of Arts. The collection is a good one. He names, 

 further, as a special library, that of the Royal Society of Agricul- 

 ture, but omits the medical libraries. 



In London, we can easily number the following: — The library of 

 the Society of Arts, that of tlie Institution of Civil Engineers, of 

 the Institute of British Architects, of the United Service Institu- 

 tion, of the Clockmakers' Company ; besides those of Sir John 

 Soane, the Royal Agricultural Society, the College of Chemistry, 

 the Chemical Society, and those of the Colleges, and of the 

 Literary and Mechanics' Institutions. The Royal, tlie London, the 

 City of London, the London Mechanics', the Westminster, the 

 Western, and the City of London Mechanics' Institutions, have, 

 among others, considerable collections of books suitable to prac- 

 tical men. 



We cannot, however, speak of libraries in London without 

 thinking of one of the national blots — the British Museum, which 

 is a libel on this great industrial nation. Since Mr. Fergusson's 

 expose, there is no excuse for the non-execution of a catalogue, 

 and the non-provision of an evening reading-room. A supply of 

 useful English and foreign boolcs suitable to practical men we shall 

 be content to wait for, as we have little hope of seeing the library 

 complete in those respects. We can only bear testimony from our 

 own experience, and the inconvenience to which we have been sub- 

 jected in attempting to get information for this Jonrnid, as to the 

 incompleteness of the libraiy as a national library in essential 

 books on engineering, architecture, and the allied subjects. We 

 can speak quite as strongly as Mr. Fergusson on this head. AVe 

 must be content, too, to wait for some more liberal ordeal than the 

 caprice of Sir Henry Ellis for the admission of respectable men 

 into the Museum library. We know of many gross cases of the 

 refusal of competent parties. 



M. Mathias, as an earnest of the practicability of his sug- 

 gestions, has appended to liis work a priced catalogue of a select 

 special library, classified under eacli head. This catalogue will be 

 found very useful to those of our readers who may wish to obtain 

 the latest French work under each head. The estimate of M. 

 Mathias for an adequate scientific industrial library, is 1.3+0/., in- 

 cluding 1,035 distinct works, and 3,165 volumes, of which, two- 

 thirds are in octavo. A larger library for 1,600/. would include 

 some of the old works. He proposes for a town of 100,000 people, 

 a library of 850 volumes, costing 760/.; and so he gives estimates 

 for each class of library. 



We do not expect the government to give money, but we do 

 urge that no time should be lost in giving legislative facilities 

 for the establishment of inalienable public libraries; so that the 

 liberality of individuals and corporations, of masters and work- 

 men, may have free scope for its exercise. 



Rules and Regulations of the Architectural Lending Library, 22, 

 Brompton Crescent, Brompton. Established 1819. Librarian, 

 J. Matthias Dodd, Architect. 



aiuch as we are disposed to favour the scheme, a library of the 

 kind being at present a great desideratum, we cannot refrain from 

 remarking that the locality chosen for it almost cuts oif all reason- 

 able hope of success. The exceedingly great inconvenience at- 

 tending the situation must, we think, strike every one; for, in 

 fact, the situation is such, that it does not give the'experiment at 

 all a fair chance, so that should — as is intimated — tlie Library be 

 closed at the end of a twelvemonth for want of a sufficient number 

 of subscribers, the failure of the undertaking will be attributed to 



there being very little disposition on the part of the profession 

 and students to support an establishment of the sort; whereas, it 

 will be more likely to have been occasioned by the difl5culties 

 thrown in the way of their making use of it. 



Not only should the establishment be within town, and in some 

 tolerably central situation, but the Library itself should be more 

 than a repository for the books, it being highly desirable that there 

 should be adequate accommodation for consulting them on the 

 spot. It would frequently happen that a person wanted merely 

 to refer to a single subject or so, in a large work of engravings; or 

 else, if, as very likely, unacquainted with a work, want to look 

 it over before borrowing it, in order to ascertain wliether it would 

 be worth his while to have it sent him. The mere carriage of 

 large folios backward and forward will, in the course of a year, 

 make a considerable addition to the subscription money; where- 

 fore it would be particularly unsatisfactory to subscribers to find 

 themselves quite disappointed in a book of the kind, after they 

 had ordered it from the Library merely in consequence of the pro- 

 mise made bv its title. ^Ve fear, therefore, that owing to his not 

 having provided the requisite facilities for his Library being made 

 use of, the proprietor has engiiged in a scheme whose success, 

 though possible, is by no means probable, wliile its failure is likely 

 to prevent any other attempt of the kind being made,— at least, 

 for a long while to come. 



LAW OF PATENTS. 



From the Report of the Committee, on the Signet and Privy Seal 

 Offices, appointed by the Lords of the Treasury to inquire into the 

 circumstances connected with the offices of the Clerks of the Signet and 

 of the Lord Privy Seal. 



Patents of Invention.— The Treasury Minute constituting our 

 committee directs our attention only to the practice of the Signet 

 and Privy Seal Offices. But in considering the subject of passing 

 letters patent through those offices, it was very difficult, if not 

 impossible, to exclude altogether from consideration the other 

 stages tlirough which they had to pass, inasmuch as the several 

 successive stages are intimately connected with each other, and 

 form links in a continuous chain; and in deciding upon the ex- 

 pediency of reforming any office, whose functions are connected 

 with those of other offices, it is necessary to see what the functions 

 of those offices are before any decision can be safely made. In the 

 evidence, therefore, annexed to this Report, it will be found that 

 we have extended our inquiry into the general process of passing 

 patents of invention, and though we do not desire to exceed the 

 limits of the duty with which we are intrusted, we think it right 

 to oft'er some general observations on the subject. 



Origin and Nature.— U is impossible to ascertain with certainty 

 when grants of letters patent for the sole use of inventions were 

 first made in this country, but there is reason to believe that this 

 prerogative of the crown is very ancient. The crown derives this 

 prerogative from the common law, and not from any statute. It 

 is vested in tlie crown as the depository of the supreme executive 

 power of the state, to be exercised on the behalf and for the 

 benefit of the pulilic. No statute is to be found relating to grants 

 for the sole use of inventions prior to the statute of 21 Jas. I. c. R, 

 called the Statute of Monopolies. That statute was passed for the 

 purpose of restraining the crown from making extravagant and 

 illegal grants of monopolies. It declared all monopolies whatso- 

 ever to be contrary to law and void, excepting "letters patent and 

 grants of privilege of the sole working or making of any new 

 manufacture to the first inventor thereof." The only other public 

 acts relating generally to patents are the 5 and 6 AVill. IV. c. 83, 

 2 and 3 Vic. c. 67, and 7 and 8 Vic. c. 69, which provide remedies 

 for deficiencies in the old law. 



Mode of Granting.— The grants of the crown must be made by 

 charters or letters patent under the Great Seal; and the command 

 given to the lord chancellor to make a patent for an invention is 

 always by means of a writ, or bill, sealed with the privy seal, 

 because the Queen cannot herself make her letters patent except 

 by means of her ministers, who act according to her legal commands, 

 and therefore when the patent is written, the words by " AV rit ot 

 Privy Seal" are inscribed, to show by what authority the lord 

 chancellor seals the grant. 



The present practice in regard to the granting of patents for 

 inventions is, that in the first instance, a petition to the Queen is 

 left at the office of the secretary of state for the home department. 

 Tlie secretary of state refers that petition to the attorney or 



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