94 A REVIEW. 



viously quoted from high and official autliority, the Hon. Edmund 

 Burke: and it is sustained by the concurrent testimony and opinion of 

 the civilized world. From the same high authority we will quote, to 

 show a propey appreciation of the rights of inventors, and of the lawless 

 and unprincipled depredators on those rights. 



Patent Office Rep. 1846, page 9. 



" In connexion with the revision and amendment, of the present 

 patent laws, I would remark that, in my judgment, some additions to 

 the present enactments are necessary for the more effectual encour- 

 agement and protection of inventors and patentees. 



" The existing laws, while professing to give to the inventor the 

 exclusive enjoyment of his invention for the term of fourteen years, 

 do, in fact, afford to him but very little protection. The fruits of his 

 genius and his toils are constantly liable to be wrested from him by the 

 unscrupulous and dishonest, who, too often countenanced by public 

 opinion, are apt to regard the rights of the inventor as the fruits of a 

 monopoly which it is a merit instead of a wrong to break down and 

 destroy; and the more valuable the invention, the more liable is the 

 patentee to this species of invasion and injury, as there is more induce- 

 ment held out to its perpetration. The stealthy thief and the mid- 

 night burglar are justly regarded as the pests and enemies of society, 

 and are therefore seized and punished by penalties severe in propor- 

 tions to the turpitude of their crimes; yet their depredations are com- 

 mitted on things which are made by law the subjects of property, and 

 which may be acquired by industry or by purchase. The right of the 

 inventor to his invention, in the judgment of all enlightened minds, 

 cannot but be viewed as far more sacred than mere things of property. 

 It is a mental creation, or rather the discovery of a principle or thing 

 never before known to the world, and may be, and very many inven 

 tions have been, often productive of countless blessings to the human 

 family, affecting their destinies as individuals and as communities 

 through all time. When the wonderful discoveries of a Watt, a Ful- 

 ton, a Whitney, and an Arkwright, and the great results to individuals 

 and to nations which have followed from them, are contemplated, it is 

 not difficult to realize the value of the splendid gifts which science, 

 through their instrumentality, has bestowed upon man, nor to estimate 

 the claims which the true inventor has upon society. He may truly 

 be called the pioneer of civilization, the explorer of the unknown 

 world of science and art. And yet how many of those truly great 

 benefactors to their race have fallen victims to ingratitude and wrong, 

 and gone down to their graves in penury and sorrow. The case of 

 Ely Whitney, our countryman, the inventor of the cotton gin, is but 

 one am.ong innumerable instances in which the fruits of splendid gen- 

 ius have been wrested from its possessor by the unprincipled depre- 

 dator upon patent rights. It is familiar to all that that great inventor, 

 whose name stands out like a bright and lustrous star in the constel- 

 lation of genius, was compelled to expend all the profits of his inven- 

 tion in fruitless efforts to protect it from infringement, and finally died 

 a victim to debt and disappointment. 



