392 [AsSEJrlBLT 



like a gun with no breech-pin, discharges itself in the wrong direction, 

 endangering the sportsman more than the game. 



It in effect, amounts to the absurdity of rendering the person, not 

 the inventor, but who shall have purchased or made a machine on the 

 plan of the invention, before application for the patent, a joint owner 

 ^vith the patentee. 



The provision, requiring interfering applicants to take testimony, 

 as to their respective rights, and leaving them with no power to com- 

 pel the attendance of witnesses, is equally preposterous. 



I might detain you by pointing out many other defects in the patent 

 laws, as they now stand, but time admonishes me to come to a close, 

 which I shall do with an expression of a hope, that the members of 

 this great Institution will appreciate the importance of good patent 

 laws, to promote the noble objects for which they are associated, and 

 will give their influence in favor of their improvem«nt. 



