ADDRESS 



On the Patent Laws, delivered at Castle Garden, Oct. 1849. 



Bt George Giffobd Esq. 



Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen : — This is the 

 twenty-second great National Tournament of artistic skill and inven- 

 tive genius ; representatives from the shop, field and laboratory, have 

 again come forth and ralUed round the standard of the American In- 

 stitute ; the brilliant signals of laudable competition are again dis- 

 played to admiring multitudes, and the invincible champions in 

 mechanism are again in the field, in vindication of their country's 



It is a glorious cause, and I congratulate the Institution under 

 whose auspices the noble enterprise proceeds, and still more, the 

 country, on the prospective results. 



In the humble part which I shall take on this occasion, I shall 

 have the pleasure, in response to the invitation with which I have 

 been honored, of calling up for consideration the subject of the 

 Patent Laws. 



In glancing over the present aspect of society, contrasting the pre- 

 sent with the past, and observing the results of each succeeding year, 

 the most striking feature arresting the attention is the successive 

 changes wrought by inventors. The most distinct and enduring marks 

 now left upon the broad ocean of time, as men and nations glide 

 perpetually on, are made by inventors. On looking back through 

 the vista of past years, monuments of their erection, numerous and 

 towering along the track of time, obscure other events and catch the 

 view as the most prominent and conspicuous objects by which to trace 

 the progress of society. 



